Roslyn House
by OhMyWord
Summary: In late autumn, she killed her husband and then herself. Now it looks like they come after couples. There's something sort of sad and romantic about it, I suppose. As long as they're not coming after you.
1. Roslyn House

Author's Note: (**edit (8/16/10**): I went back and edited this story a little bit, apparently FF deleted my dividers which would make this story confusing to read. Anyway, I only changed that and a couple of typos I noticed, no new content in case you received an alert for this.)

Happy Halloween, and by the by, Halloween happens to also be my birthday :). So here's a one shot I put together for the occasion; there are a few pictures of it on my homepage.

* * *

Haunted America: Roslyn House

The lights flickered once and then went out. Outside, the storm raged on, challenging the house to remain standing in its wake. The window panes rattled as another crack of thunder shook overhead. Esme had stopped talking mid-sentence and peeked outside the heavy curtains just in time to see a bolt of lightning streak across the sky. "I can't stand it anymore," she let the curtain drop and faced Carlisle. She pleaded with him, "just make the call, you'll do it better than I can."

He ran a hand through his hair; he never understood his wife's fascination with the macabre. "I still don't know; have you seen those shows? They're so…so _cheesy_. How can we be sure they'll even -,"

Before he could finish his sentence, lightning flashed down, striking a power line several yards away. The wires flashed and fell to the pavement below, twitching as they reacted to the wet ground. Esme pulled open the curtain again to watch. "Please Carlisle."

He stood up and moved to the window, wrapping his arms around her waist. His kissed her neck softly. "All right, we'll give it a try." She put her palms over his arms and squeezed. "Come on," he pulled back, "let's go upstairs."

…

Bella walked into the little recording studio with a brand new file, she waved it at Alice through the glass and then sat down on a couch behind the producer to listen.

"Meet Emmett and Jasper, our equipment experts. They collect the hard evidence...what comes after that?" Alice glanced up at Mike, the producer.

"We'll do the montage of them from old episodes and their voiceovers will get put in. Keep going."

Alice nodded and continued. "And this is Bella, our historical researcher," she paused. "And Edward, the medium; can he communicate with the dead?" She waited a beat again. "Rosalie is our newest member; she's the resident skeptic and will need real proof before she changes her mind. And my name is Alice…Come with us as we tour – Haunted America."

Mike hit a button on the panel in front of him. "Ok, that's good, come on out." He turned and faced Bella, "hey, what are you up to?" He gave her his version of a sexy grin.

"She's not interested," Alice said. "What have you got?"

Bella jumped up and tossed Alice her jacket. The sooner they got out from under Mike's watchful gaze, the better. She kept quiet until they were outside in the bright, California sunshine. She handed Alice the file as they made their way down the street to the coffee shop. "For the Halloween episode."

She followed Bella into the air conditioned space; it smelled like sugar and pretentious coffee. They both inhaled deeply.

"Hey!" Emmett bellowed from across the room, motioning them over to the two couches he was protecting from trespassers with Rosalie.

Edward and Jasper jogged in next. "Are we late?"

"Right on time," Bella smiled at Edward, it grew when he smiled back.

Once they were all gathered, Bella spoke up. "Here's my idea for the Halloween all-nighter. The place is called Roslyn House; it's in Washington near Port Townsend -,"

"Point Wilson lighthouse," Emmett interjected. The lighthouse was the first haunted spot the team had investigated together two years ago. Bella had nearly fallen down some stairs by what Emmett was convinced was the ghost of the woman who had been seen there, but Bella blamed her own clumsiness for the accident.

"It's about ten or fifteen miles from there, in a little place called South Hollow." She continued.

"What's the back story?" Jasper asked.

"Roslyn House was built in 1899 as a gift for Roslyn Boyd by her husband, Terrence. They were both eighteen, came from old money. Legend has it that in 1918, Roslyn started getting jealous of a new a neighbor. I don't know what the final straw was, but in late autumn, Roslyn killed her husband and then herself. Now it looks like they come after couples."

"And that's documented? The murder and the suicide?" Rosalie asked. She had just joined the group a few weeks prior and was still trying to find her place. She was a steadfast skeptic of anything paranormal and, being a part of a troupe like this, sometimes felt like the outsider.

Alice and Edward had started the show three years prior with a single camera, Edward's car, and a star map of sorts of various haunted destinations. They gained access (whether legally or by other means) and recorded themselves trying to sort the real from the fake; they posted these videos online and gained a huge following. Emmett, Jasper, and Bella joined soon thereafter and now people all over the world watched them on television every Thursday night.

"Yeah, there are pictures and a copy of the report in there," Bella gestured to the file. "After that the house passed through several owners, I couldn't find all those records, but anyway, no disturbances are officially reported. Then again, there really wasn't much of a way to do that…," she digressed. "Anyway, the house was restored in the early sixties by Margaret Sinclair. She claims to have never had a problem in the house."

"But she was single, right?" Alice asked, flipping a page on the file.

"Right." She paused to take a drink of Emmett's water. "It was a bed and breakfast up until 2000 when it was closed by the owner, but was given historical landmark status." She motioned toward the file, "Carlisle and Esme Cullen sent me the deed listing them as the current owners." Bella took a deep breath, glad to be almost finished with her monologue.

"So, what do they say is happening?" Rosalie asked.

"The phenomenon during the day is fairly typical, whisperings, things moving on their own. But at night…there are four different instances over the last few years of couples hearing Roslyn and Terrence in their bedroom. Supposedly, they can hear what sounds like their last night alive."

"You mean they heard the Boyds dying?" Emmett sounded excited; Rosalie gave him an irritated look.

"Uh, yeah."

Edward took the file from Alice and browsed through it. "Well," he grinned at Bella, "I think it's a great idea."

The rest of the team agreed and the trip was set.

Haunted America goes to Washington.

…

They got out of the soccer mom van bleary eyed after the two hour flight and subsequent two hour drive, grateful for the dark, consuming fog and cloud cover; it added to the atmosphere for filming. Jasper and Emmett decided to take the van to shoot the town, so that left the rest of the group to haul in their gear. Actually, that left Bella, Rosalie, and Edward to haul in everything as Alice was using a hand held camera to record some opening shots. She walked behind us, talking animatedly at the little screen.

"It's October 30th and we're just checking into our hotel. Say hi guys," she pointed the camera at the group, who grunted in her general direction as they made their way to the front desk. "We're here early to interview some of the townspeople and the owners of Roslyn House, Carlisle and Esme Cullen -,"

"Excuse me," the front desk clerk interrupted.

Alice turned the camera on him and he flushed.

"Did you," he cleared his throat, "did you say you were interviewing Mr. and Mrs. Cullen today?"

"Yes that's right."

He 'hmm'd' to himself and took Bella's identification; the two rooms were registered under her name.

Alice kept the camera pointed toward him. "So, Mr.….," she looked at his name tag, "Cheney, what do you think of Roslyn House?"

He smoothed his hair back self consciously. "Well," he chuckled, "I wouldn't go in there with my wife, that's for sure."

That piqued Bella's interest. "Because of what other couples say happened to them?" The last husband and wife to stay in the house before it closed as a bed and breakfast reported a man and woman who terrorized them, trying to coerce the newlyweds into their same tragic end.

"Yes ma'am." He handed her the room keys and directed them to the elevator.

…

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious what's going on here," Rose sat at the desk in the hotel room with her arms crossed.

Emmett and Jasper had returned and the group had all congregated in one room. Bella sat on one bed, painfully aware that Edward was stretched out on his back next to her. If she looked down, she could see where the edge of his t-shirt lifted to expose the tiniest sliver of stomach and hip. She wondered absently if he had the slightest idea what that little bit of skin did to her. She squeezed her eyes shut momentarily, regaining composure.

Rosalie was talking again. "They're using us to generate revenue, stimulate tourism." She said matter-of-factly.

Emmett leaned on the desk, "let's not jump to conclusions. Trying to figure it out is the fun part." He could tell she was nervous; it was her first trip with the team. Before this, she was a fact checker for a newspaper. He smiled down at her, flashing his dimples and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Alright," she said, "where to first?"

Bella consulted her schedule, "Edward, Alice, and I are going to interview the Cullens, and you guys are due down at the library and then here," she reached over and handed Emmett a slip of paper with an address. "This couple has an eye witness account. You guys can take the van."

…

The Cullens were waiting outside on the porch when they got there, both wearing long coats to cut the chill. Carlisle's was a deep charcoal, buttoned closed over what looked like pinstripe trousers. Esme's was a dark brown, almost black, with a belt at the waist; she smiled when she caught Bella looking at it with appreciation.

Esme reached out to shake Bella's hand and when she was close enough Esme noticed she was wearing a small, antique ring. "That's lovely, may I?" She lifted Bella's hand to more closely examine it. "Nineteen thirties, right?"

Bella smiled. "Good eye."

Esme looked delighted, "I think we're going to get along just fine."

Carlisle led them all inside and then into a small parlor room. "Is this alright? The men's parlor on the other side of the house is a gift shop now." He paused, seeming a little nervous about the new visitors. "Sorry about the weather, I don't know when that fog is going to let up." It was such a deep grey outside; it almost looked like night though it was only three in the afternoon. The tendrils of fog seemed to have wrapped tightly around everything. Bella was half afraid that when she first stepped out of the van she'd get stuck in the cold, wet mist.

Alice took charge, "this is lovely," she looked around the room. "Would it be ok if we made these two loveseats face each other? You could sit on one, and we could sit on the other."

After rearranging them, opening the curtains, and setting up a camera on a tripod, they settled in for the interview. This part was Alice's specialty. She was non-judgmental and had a way of giving the person talking her full attention, as if they were the only one in the room. An interview was how she met Jasper, actually. She was doing a story about various volunteer programs for the university newspaper. One thirty minute conversation later and it was all over.

"So, why don't you tell us how you two met?"

Carlisle looked at Esme with a little grin, "why don't you tell that one?"

"Well," she smiled, "Carlisle is a doctor -,"

"Was, I'm retired now."

"Was a doctor. And one day I was walking through town and not paying any attention at all. Well, this car was making a turn much too fast and I was right in the middle of the street! I jumped out of the way and scraped my knee on the ground."

Carlisle slipped his arm around her waist. "She's lucky it wasn't worse."

"He happened to see the whole thing and came over to see if I was alright. He checked my knee and tried to convince me that I'd have to let him sew it up." She smiled again, "it was barely a scratch. He walked me to my mother's and cleaned it up and the rest is history."

The conversation starter worked perfectly. After that, they were more than willing to discuss their fears of other tenants roaming the halls of the old house. Though they'd never heard the alleged Boyd murder/suicide in the master bedroom, the two had experienced enough unexplained phenomena that they rarely set foot in the house for more than was necessary and never alone.

Their last night actually living in the house, Esme claimed that Roslyn Boyd came to her in the master bedroom. She said Roslyn's words were vile, an attempt to convince Esme of Carlisle's unfaithfulness. They packed up their things that very night and left.

"So why come back at all? Why not sell the house?" Bella asked.

Carlisle looked at his wife, who answered almost wistfully, "there's something sort of sad and romantic about it, I suppose. Roslyn loved Terrence so much; she went completely mad at the thought of him with another. I just couldn't bear to sell it to someone who had no appreciation for the history, you know?"

Bella nodded.

"We should warn you," Carlisle noted at the end of the interview. "We were here several nights ago during the storm and lightning struck a power line right outside. We've had spotty power outages ever since. Is that going to be a problem?" He got up to lead the group through the house on a tour.

"No, we use a generator." Alice answered. She stopped at every photograph and knick knack, asking questions and marveling at how well kept the little house was. "Is this the mirror where Mrs. Boyd has been seen?" She stopped in front of a huge mirror, large enough that it reached the ceiling, in the living room and stared, as if Roslyn's ghost was going to show up and say hello.

The house itself was quite beautiful. The walls were an antique white which contrasted sharply with the mahogany trim and dark details. But perhaps the most startling feature was the staircase; it was a solid black wrought iron affair that twisted upward out of the middle of a room toward the second floor.

Bella lagged behind with Edward, who rubbed a hand over his face and then through his hair. He frowned, staring downward as they walked upstairs. "Are you alright?" Bella whispered.

"Yeah, I just feel…odd."

"Is it the house?" Bella never could quite figure out Edward's…gift. It seemed to depend on the place and who may have lived there and sometimes nothing happened at all. When they first met, she wondered if he was faking.

He paused and touched the railing for balance. "I don't know."

She slowed to walk upstairs behind him in case he fell.

After they toured the rooms; Alice led the Cullens through what to expect the next day. The plan was to get the house ready during the day; that would include getting equipment set up in what was called the "base camp." They chose the living room since it was the most central location on the first floor. They would also install motion detectors and thermal imaging cameras in all the rooms dubbed "hot spots" by the Cullens.

"You're welcome to stay with us in the house if you'd like," Alice said as they walked back out onto the porch.

Carlisle chuckled, "oh no, we've had enough of things that go bump in the night." He gave Alice a small brass key that would fit both the front and back door before they all said their goodbyes.

…

"Root beer?" Edward asked later in the hotel room. Emmett's half of the group had picked up dinner on their way back from the other interviews.

Bella took a small drink through her straw, "oops…I think this is yours." She held it out awkwardly, unsure if Edward would still want it.

He grabbed it and took a long swallow before sitting next to her on the bed. "I have your cooties now."

Bella blushed and tried to change the subject. "So…how were the Gundersons?" She was referring to the couple with the eye witness account. To be honest, she couldn't care less at that point, but she needed the distraction. "Do they really have the same first name?"

"They sure do," Jasper replied from his place on the floor next to Alice. He explained that Taylor and Taylor Gunderson spent their whole wedding night at Roslyn House ten years prior, only to run out at five in the morning when they couldn't take it anymore. This was back when the place was a bed and breakfast. Now it was basically a museum on the Washington Haunted Tours circuit. "Taylor the wife said that all night long she heard a woman whispering in her ear, saying that Taylor the husband had been unfaithful. She said the ghost was trying to convince her to 'do away with' her husband." Jasper made the requisite air quotes.

"And the other Taylor?" Bella asked.

"He said he heard a man's voice saying that Taylor the wife was going to kill him." He took a large bite out of his cheeseburger and continued, "he saw my ring and said I should pack up and go home."

"But neither of them actually saw anything?" Rosalie asked.

"Nope, just the voices."

"Oh," Emmett interrupted, "we bought liquor!"

…

"So…how do you two work…exactly?" Rosalie had reached her drinking limit and was sipping from a water bottle while the rest of the group quickly caught up. She waved her hand between Edward and Alice.

"You go first," Alice said, braiding sections of Bella's hair. Edward took up the other half of the bed, his hair already sporting three tiny haphazard braids.

He stretched and leaned up on his elbows. He opened his mouth as if to explain, "…what was the question?"

"Are you like, psychic or a mind reader or something?" Rosalie asked.

He shrugged, "I don't really know what you call it. I guess I get…impressions about what went on in people's minds when something happened, like…what they were thinking…I dunno, it's weird…," he trailed off, reaching for his half empty plastic cup. "Your turn, Alice."

Alice sat back against the headboard and crossed her legs, thinking. Bella moved to the floor at the foot of the bed and leaned back. After a second she felt hands moving through her hair, undoing the braids, Edward's hands. He worked slowly, loosening one small section at a time before combing his fingers through it. She sat absolutely still, afraid that if she moved, he would stop.

"Well," Alice started. "I guess I get impressions too…but not really about what they were thinking more like…what actually happened. It's like seeing the future except…I see the past. Sometimes the future, I guess you could call me an intuitive. Like, I get a feeling about things."

Rosalie looked at them both in disbelief. "Seriously?"

They both shrugged. Hearing them explain it reminded Bella of how strange it must sound to someone who wasn't used to it. But she had known them for a few years now and it was old hat to her; Emmett was forever trying to get Alice to help him pick lottery numbers.

Rosalie took another drink of water and mumbled, "I don't have a super power…,"

"You're super hot," Emmett called from the other bed.

Jasper snorted.

"Ok, bed time methinks," Alice stood up and tip toed over Edward's legs before hopping off the side of the bed.

"How is that going to work?" Rosalie asked. There were only four beds and six of them.

"Well, I'm sharing with Jasper in the other room."

"You can stay in this room with me," Bella said to Rosalie, who looked a little relieved.

"So, you girls can share a bed, Edward will take the one in the other room, and I'll sleep here." Emmett stretched out on the bed he was already lying on.

"And you get a bed to yourself in here with us?" Rosalie huffed, "I don't think so. That one's mine."

Edward reached up and finger combed the braids out of his hair. "So, in that case…," he looked at Emmett, "you're sharing with me?" They had matching unhappy expressions.

"No way…alright, what if Edward slept in this bed instead?" He bargained.

"It's the principle of the thing -,"

Bella sighed, "I'll share with Emmett if -,"

"No," Edward said suddenly, "I'll share with you." He cleared his throat, "I'll share with you in here, Rosalie gets the other bed, and Emmett gets the one in the other room."

The group agreed and Bella felt her heart flutter with equal parts nerves and anticipation. Since she had made the "sacrifice", she got first dibs on the bathroom. She went in and locked the door. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, and wondered if the blush would ever fade from her cheeks. "You're just sharing a bed," she said to herself in the mirror, "it doesn't mean anything."

From outside the door she heard Edward call out, "what?"

"Nothing," she called back.

…

When Bella woke up in the middle of the night, the room was spinning. She closed her eyes and told herself to remember that moment the next time she felt like getting drunk.

She took a few deep breaths, distracting herself with thoughts about the next day. Usually, this was the time for excitement and that little tickle of fear, but something felt off to her, like they were all stepping into something they didn't fully understand.

"Bella?" Edward whispered, his face only inches from hers. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just nervous, you know." She worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

He scooted infinitesimally closer. "I'll protect you."

She became suddenly aware of their proximity and fumbled for a subject change. "I was thinking…why do you think the Boyds only go after couples?" She listened to the sheets as Edward adjusted his position.

"I don't know…maybe because they didn't get their happiness, they think no one else should either."

"But why just couples? Why not anyone that goes into the house?" Bella had wondered about that endlessly. Margaret Sinclair had lived in the house for six years and nothing happened to her at all, no voices, unexplained accidents during the renovations, nothing. Why? What kind of haunted house goes completely dormant for that long? And then as soon as it opened as a bed and breakfast, the reported incidents began again…,"

Bella felt the tips of Edward's fingers touch her forehead, "I can see your wheels turning in there." He yawned, "Get some sleep."

She smiled at the contact, "well," she felt suddenly awkward at the pleasure the small touch brought her, "good night."

"Good night, Bella."

The next morning, they stopped at the South Hollow Diner for breakfast. They chose a large booth in the back corner, though the place was so small they could just as easily have been sitting next to the front door. Once they ordered, the group went through their checklist.

"…Five EVP recorders?" Bella read from the list and either Emmett or Jasper "checked" it. "Three thermal imaging cameras? Two hand held cameras? Tripods for all the static cameras? The boom and other sound equipment? Two EMF detectors? Motion sensors?" She waited for the last "check" before saying, "ok, that's everything." The growing feeling of unease was back, but she ignored it.

Every inch of the table was covered when the food arrived. Pancakes, waffles, bacon, potatoes, ham, eggs, toast, fruit, you name it, and they were eating it. Emmett was just finishing his second glass of orange juice when someone from the next booth over tapped him on the shoulder. He glanced back at the man; he was middle aged and wearing a Mariners baseball cap. "What's up?"

"Are you the ghost hunters from that show?"

"That's us, Haunted America," Emmett smiled.

"I'm a huge fan," he reached a hand over to shake Emmett's. "Are you here for Roslyn House?" His eyes were bright with curiosity.

"As a matter of fact, we are. Have you ever been inside?"

He shook his head, "the wife doesn't like that place. You know…people have died in there."

Alice spoke up, "the Boyds, yes."

"No," he paused. "My wife grew up here and she heard that -," he stopped and glanced down. "Sorry, phone's ringing. Really nice meeting you all." With that, he turned back around in his seat to take the call.

They all looked at Bella. "What was he talking about?" Alice asked.

Bella shook her head. "I have no idea." She flipped through her notes in her head. No, she thought to herself, the Boyds died in 1918 and that's when the haunting began.

They all turned to see if Mariners Cap was off the phone, but he was gone. They turned back to Bella as if she could produce new research that would explain away what the man had started to say.

"You know how rumors can spread in a small town," Edward interjected. "It's probably nothing."

Alice and Rosalie nodded. "True."

When the group arrived at the house, the Cullens were waiting; they seemed anxious to leave. Carlisle went through the house with Emmett, Rosalie, and Jasper while the rest stayed downstairs to explain to Esme what would happen that night and the next day.

The plan was to record all night; the footage would be broadcast with only a two minute delay which meant the public would get to see almost everything. Alice was hoping for something big; Bella was just hoping to make it out without embarrassing herself live on television.

The Cullens were due back early in the morning; they would film the debriefing and reactions before doing a quick wrap up. After that, they would pack everything up for the two hour van ride back to the airport for their six o'clock flight back to California.

Piece of cake.

…

The house was buzzing with activity, people talking over each other, to themselves, setting up base camp, cameras, sensors. They were like a chaotic well oiled machine.

"Should we set up that camera facing the mirror?" Alice asked; she was setting up a laptop to establish a connection with the people in California. They were the ones that polished the raw footage, adding intros, teasers, sounds, and credits. Basically, they made twelve hours of recording look like a real show. And they were able to see all the feeds at once, so they could splice it together by what had the most interesting action or dialogue.

"You want it on the mirror all night?" Jasper furrowed his eyebrows and Alice shrugged. "I'll put it here," he repositioned the camera on the tripod. "That way it can see part of the mirror and all of you."

From upstairs, Bella called out, "I need a tall person!"

"I'm on it," Edward yelled back.

Rosalie came in from outside, "generator is working perfectly," she dusted her hands off on her jeans.

"Hey Jasper, this new EVP recorder isn't working," Emmett lumbered down the stairs.

"Batteries, man."

"Say hi," Alice faced her hand held camera in Rosalie's direction; she waved.

"We need another motion sensor up here," Edward called down.

Jasper grabbed the little device from Alice, who was talking animatedly to California.

Bella leaned over the railing at the top of the stairs, "are we putting a thermal imaging camera in the hall?"

"Do we have an extra?" Jasper asked on his way up.

"Can you guys give me a hand?" Alice gestured to the mess of cords, screen feeds, and other equipment splayed out on the long table that was acting as their command center.

"Should we tape down the cords?" Rosalie asked.

"No," Emmett and Alice said together. "The adhesive rubs off onto the wood," Emmett explained. "And I really don't feel like paying to have their floors cleaned."

Rosalie nodded.

…

"Done!" Bella called on her way downstairs.

"Ready," Jasper and Edward followed.

"What time is it?" Rosalie was looking a little nervous.

"Two minutes to air time," Alice answered. "Hey, is the mic set up in the bedroom?"

Jasper nodded, lifting the boom. Emmett hefted a camera into his hands; he nudged Rosalie with his elbow. "You'll do great."

"Time for lights out." Jasper ran out to kill the house's electricity. He came back just in time.

From the laptop, California called out, "ok, teaser's going."

Alice looked up, "good show everybody."

They all echoed and took their seats near Alice, who acted as the leader on camera.

"Intro is rolling," California said. "Emmett, push out a little."

Emmett complied, backing up a couple of steps so the camera shot included more background.

Edward looked over to Bella and grinned; she bit her lip and made a fake scared face.

"Ok, Alice," California said, "and we're going over to you…now."

…

"…and Rosalie, our skeptic, has agreed to stay alone in the master bedroom, where, in a fit of jealously, Roslyn Boyd took the life of her husband before taking her own on one terrifying night." Alice gave a good dramatic pause. "Are you scared, Rosalie?"

"Of course not," she crossed her arms.

Emmett led her upstairs where a camera was already set up on a tripod in the room.

"Should I talk a lot?" She whispered in the hallway.

"Just explore the room a little, sit on the bed, talk to the audience about being skeptical. Whatever feels right." He stepped closer, "I won't let you stay up here by yourself all night."

"But I thought -,"

"We wouldn't really do that to you," he showed his dimples. "I'll come up from time to time, or you can come down as long as nothing's happening, ok?"

Rosalie smiled, "ok." Then she put on her brave face and walked into the Boyd's bedroom alone.

"Are you guys ready?" Alice asked Bella and Edward. They were going, along with Emmett and Jasper, to explore the house. The group was hoping Edward might pick up something.

Emmett and Jasper held their equipment up in response.

"Ok, start on the first floor. I'll stay and monitor the feeds." She brought up a split screen of what they were seeing on the various cameras.

Jasper came around the table and kissed her. "Stay safe."

…

Alice looked around the room. Except for the big mirror and their table, it was empty of all furniture. The bay window behind her let almost no light in, the moon hidden as it was by layers of clouds and fog. She got up to look outside.

_tap…tap tap_

Alice stilled, listened.

_tap tap_

Although she had experienced things in her life not easily explained away, Alice was pragmatic. If there was a sound, it had a source. She leaned close to the window, feeling the chill from outside through the glass.

_tap…tap_

Alice knew the camera was on her, and that California probably thought whatever she was doing was interesting enough to broadcast. She took a deep breath. "I hear something," she said, hoping the mic Jasper rigged was picking up her voice. "But I think it's coming from -,"

_tap_

Alice jumped, cleared her throat, "I think it's coming from outside." She looked out, squinting at the glass. It looked black.

_tap tap_

"Oh," she backed up. Her eyebrows furrowed. For a second, she forgot about the cameras; her eyes glazed.

And then she exhaled. "Tree branch on the window," she smiled.

She sat back down, feeling miles away. It wasn't anything, she said to herself.

"It was nothing."

…

"Ack! Emmett."

"Sorry, it's hard to see."

Bella paused, fixing the back of her shoe. Edward held her free arm to help her balance. Jasper tried not to hit anyone with the boom. "What part of the house are we in?" He asked.

As the researcher, Bella was the only one that had studied the floor plan and even she was confused. Each door seemed to lead them further away, every room had more than one way in and out, and the hallways were narrow and pitch and stretched much further than Bella thought the house had room for. "We're in…,"she mentally retraced their steps, "the library should be that door on the right, which means the gift shop is on the other side of this wall." She knocked it lightly for emphasis.

Something knocked back.

In unison, they took a step away. Emmett and Jasper regained their composure first, readying the shot to frame Edward and Bella. "That wasn't one of you?" She looked at the boys in suspicion.

They shook their heads.

"Mice?"

"That knock?" Jasper raised his eyebrows. He looked at Edward, "anything coming through?"

"No, but…I feel…my head is killing me." He ran his hands through his hair. "I'm fine," he exhaled, "knock again."

Bella knocked twice, softly.

They waited.

And waited.

No response.

"What time is it?" Emmett asked, unable to look at his watch and still carry the heavy camera.

"Um," Bella checked, "eight thirty."

"Great."

…

Rosalie cleared her throat and then kept talking though she was unsure if any of it was actually being shown on television. She needed something to distract her from the dark and the quiet. "You're a grown up," she said to herself. Outside, the wind picked up, loosening leaves from their branches. She could hear them scatter.

Inside, something creaked on the stairs, like a heavy weight pressing into the top step.

Her head turned toward the door, she smiled uncomfortably. "This house is over a hundred years old and made of wood. It's going to periodically settle, which is most likely the sound I just heard."

She heard it again, but this time it was in the hallway. "…Emmett?"

…

"Bella."

"What?" She glanced up from where she was exploring the rows of books in the library by the almost non-existent light of the window.

"What?" Emmett asked, looking up from his camera.

"You said my name."

"No I didn't."

She stepped around him to where Edward and Jasper were standing; they both shook their heads.

…

Alice was looking at the feeds from the three thermal imaging cameras. One was set up in the master bedroom with Rosalie, the other was on the second floor landing, and the other was in the room with Alice, pointing toward the entryway. Each screen showed a steady picture of green, the only red being Rosalie's body sitting still on the bed. It was the only color in the dark room besides California on her laptop.

"What was that?" California asked suddenly.

Alice looked up from where she was watching Rosalie, who had stood up and was moving toward the bedroom door. "What was what?"

"On the thermals, number one."

Alice watched his eyes dart to the side as if looking at another screen.

"Which room is that in?" He asked.

Alice checked the feeds; she felt her pulse thud loudly in the still space. "This room."

…

"None of you said anything?" Bella's eyes focused on each man with her, looking for a "tell" that one of them was lying. The only thing she saw was worry.

"Do you want me to check the recorder?" Jasper asked, motioning to the EVP recorder sitting on a large round table at the center of the room.

She stared at it. "No…no that's alright."

…

Rosalie stood at the door, her hand on the knob. She thought about the old King house. It stood at the edge of the town she grew up in and everyone believed it to be haunted. Kids with too much time on their hands spent their nights daring each other to go inside. When the thrill of that wore off they started daring each other to spend the night. Rosalie was one of the volunteers.

She was twelve years old and it was one of those hot and sticky summers where people were still outside fanning themselves even after the sun went down. She walked into the house bravely, not even turning around to look at her best friend, who'd chickened out at the last minute.

She closed the front door and listened to the stillness of the house and the riotous laughter coming from outside.

Young Rosalie had crossed her arms in front of her chest, stood tall. "I'm not afraid of you."

The giggling died down outside; she knew they would only leave two or three people to keep watch.

It was barely a whisper, but it was something she never forgot. "_You should be_."

…

"Was it a heat signature?" Alice tried to keep the shaking out of her voice.

"No, look at this," a video window popped up on her screen. It was a recording of the feed from a few minutes prior. It was the same green Alice had been staring at all night, but then, instead of seeing the red signifying a warm blooded presence, she saw blue. It moved across the screen so fast, she almost missed it.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Well, we're going to commercial now and then we're going to run with this so…you tell me."

…

Rosalie took a deep breath and swung the door open. "Who's there?...Emmett?" She waited for a sign that it was someone from the group, but heard nothing. Much more quietly and still aware there was a camera on her at least partially, she stepped a single foot into the hall. "Hello?" She leaned out, feeling bound by the barrier of the doorway. To the left were a black hallway and a thermal imaging camera. To the right was the end of the hall and a porthole window, but no people as far as she could see.

Back inside the safety of the room, she sat down again. "See?" She tried to sound relieved, "just the house settling."

…

Alice stood in the middle of their base camp, measuring the temperature of the air, checking for drafts or anything that might explain away what she'd seen. But there was nothing; she stuck the gauge in her jacket pocket and stood there, unsure what to do next.

"Ok," she breathed, "I'm going to try and…see. It doesn't always work, but there's definitely something going on here." She made a small turn so she was mostly facing the camera and closed her eyes.

It was like an emptying out of herself, making room for something more. So for a moment, she wasn't where she was, and she wasn't when she was either. It was a little like being inside a dream; she couldn't quite control what she saw or how much she remembered later. So she spoke out loud in a strange unattached way that she could never replicate when lucid, committing the vision to tape.

Her limbs were heavy and she felt strangely bound in some way to her spot in the room. She kept her eyes closed, watched the past uncurling in her mind.

"I'm here, but upstairs. There's a woman in high heels; I can hear them clicking on the floor in the bedroom. I think she's pacing…but I can't see…," she paused and let the images put themselves together before she spoke again. "She's yelling at someone…a man. He's sitting on the bed…he…," like a skipping record, the last couple of seconds repeated before fading out for good. The man raising his hand, grabbing the woman's wrist before she could slap him; the angle was off, almost sideways in Alice's mind. But that last second, she got a partial glimpse of the man. "He…his hair…,"

Alice strode around the table, her movements staccato and her teeth chattering. She swept her hands over the equipment, using the light from the screens to find what she was looking for. A walkie talkie; they rarely used them, but kept them just in case. From the laptop, she heard someone talking to her and from somewhere, farther back, she heard someone laughing.

…

"Where are we now?" Emmett walked backward in front of Edward and Bella, filming and hoping not to run into anything.

"The kitchen is through here on the right," Bella answered.

Emmett took the turn a little too soon and banged his elbow on the frame. "Shit."

"Censor," Jasper said.

They walked through while Edward lagged behind.

"What's the matter?" Bella stood in the doorway, blocking the shot.

"My head…it's just a headache, but the pressure. It's like…," he lowered his voice, "it's like something is inside my head." In truth, he felt like he was losing his mind.

Bella watched his expression go from pained to something else.

"What's going on?" Emmett stepped around her, pointing the camera at them.

She waved her hand, signaling for him to be quiet.

"I think he _likes_ you." Edward looked at her, eyes wide. He grabbed her arm suddenly, as if to throw her out of the way of something.

"What are -,"

"He…he's in my head." He shut his eyes tightly, pressing a hand into them.

"Who, Edward?" Bella stepped closer, but kept her arms at her sides. "Do -,"

"He wants us both."

…

The temperature in the master bedroom dropped; Rosalie wished she'd brought a jacket. She hugged her middle and began talking again.

"The temperature change could be for various reasons. Again, this is an old house; it's drafty…or -," she froze, hearing someone speaking behind her.

"But they're perfect," a woman's voice said.

"I don't know if we can do it before they leave…and there's so many of them." This voice was male, calm.

Rosalie stopped breathing; her fear felt cold.

"We'll just have to try harder."

Rosalie had had enough. She stood up, made a quick apology to the camera, and raced toward the door.

…

Alice found her walkie talkie, but her relief was cut short. Sitting next to it was the one Bella's group was supposed to be carrying.

…

"Who is '_he_', Edward?" Bella stood in front of him, trying to get his eyes to focus on her.

"I don't know…," he sounded exhausted.

Bella reached into her jacket pocket, found it to be empty. "Jasper, do you have the walkie? I need to talk to Alice." She wasn't sure she could retrace their steps with Edward almost incoherent. She turned around, expectant.

"No, I don't…I think I left it…," he checked all of his pockets.

"Great," she muttered, more angry at herself for not remembering either. She looked at Edward, who seemed to be standing a little straighter, and then back at Emmett and Jasper. Something wasn't right, something more than what was already in front of her. She'd felt it since they arrived and couldn't ignore it anymore. She needed her research, but didn't want to hold up the rest of the group. "Ok," she decided, "I'm gonna go back to our base camp, you guys go on ahead."

Edward grabbed her wrist, Emmett's camera forgotten for the moment. "No."

"It's ok, I -,"

He kept his voice quiet, "I told you last night that I was going to -,"

"Edward," Bella blushed in spite of herself. "I'll be fine; I'm more worried about you." She smiled, "Alice is right down this hall and around the corner." Actually, she wasn't entirely sure about that, but she stood firm anyway.

Edward's fingers trailed down until they were around hers. "Please be careful." He squeezed her hand.

"I will."

"Here," Jasper stepped up, handed her a flashlight.

She thanked him and then set off, trying to ignore the fact that she was now completely alone.

…

Rosalie wanted nothing more than to go downstairs and find everyone else, but something was pulling her toward the door at the end of the hall. She grabbed her flashlight, "oh, what the hell…,"

…

Bella swore under her breath. She had this strange sensation that the hallways were moving and reconnecting in nonsensical ways to turn her around.

She opened another door – bathroom.

With her eyes closed, she tried to remember the layout of the house.

"You should have brought Edward with you."

Bella jumped, stifling a scream. After a minute of listening to the sound of her pulse, she spoke, "who's there?"

She waited for a response, but was met with nothing. She strained her ears, thinking it odd that she couldn't even hear the rain she'd noticed coming down the last time she peeked out a window. "Hello?" She called out, "hallucination?" She stepped forward, her flashlight only illuminating a few feet at a time.

"I am no such thing."

Bella clenched her teeth and her hand wrapped more tightly around the flashlight, prepared to hit someone with it.

"My dear, lower your weapon. I just want to talk."

It wasn't real, she thought to herself. "You're not real." Bella started walking, sure that she'd find her way to someone sooner or later; the house wasn't _that_ big.

The voice was intimate, as if the two were sharing secrets over a rich dessert. But it wasn't real, Bella thought to herself again.

"You can stick your fingers in your ears all you want, it won't help. Tell me about Edward, do you love him?"

"Leave me alone," her voice was beginning to tremble as she searched for her friends.

"Wouldn't you like to be with him forever?"

"Go away," her steps were quick, but going in no particular direction. When she came to another door, she pushed through. She recognized the room as the ladies' parlor where the Cullens were interviewed the day before; this meant she was at the front of the house. She looked out the window, grateful for a tangible reminder that she was still in the world she knew.

"Why aren't you together already? Doesn't he love you back?"

Bella fisted her hands, unwilling to admit to a voice that probably didn't exist that the question was exactly what she feared the most. That Edward didn't have feelings for her at all, that she was doomed to carry that ache alone for the rest of her life.

She thought about the signals he gave her, the way he'd brushed his fingers through her hair and over her palms, how he shared a bed with her and offered his valiant protection. But now here she was, alone again.

Somewhere in that same room, a different woman smiled.

…

Rosalie turned the creaking knob and pushed the door open, wondering if she should have brought the camera. Too late now, she thought. There was no way she was going back into that bedroom with the voices a few feet away.

The room was musty and clearly used for storage. There were boxes everywhere overflowing with papers and photographs. Stacked five deep at one corner were a series of paintings.

There seemed to be a little circular pathway carved out around the room, almost wide enough to walk through without nudging the boxes, almost.

Rosalie bumped a stack of papers sitting precariously atop a stack of wooden crates; they scattered around her like autumn leaves in the dark room. She huffed to herself and kneeled down, gathering them haphazardly in her hands, the flashlight discarded on the floor. Its beam pointed toward her feet, where a photocopy of a legal document rested under her left shoe. She picked it up and read. It was the declaration of the house as a historical landmark, dated 2000; under "owner" was written the name, Barbara Owens. She stuck the paper back into the pile she was making.

When she was finished, she tapped the bottom of the stack on the floor once to straighten it out and stood up, feeling a small twinge in her back.

Impulsively, she looked at the top sheet. Exploration was the reason she'd come into the room in the first place anyway.

It was a letter, hand written, dated December of 2000. It appeared to be a part of some sort of ongoing correspondence. Rosalie looked at the date at the top of the page again, frowning. Something wasn't right about it. She read.

_Uncle Jack,_

_I understand your worries about the house, but aside from abandoning it, I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know why the last owner applied for landmark status. If it were me, I would have burned this place to the ground._

_And before you say it, I do realize I've only been here a few months. But come and try to live here with Aunt Carol and you'll understand._

_So please, please convince the city to take it; they can turn it into a museum or something. _

_Your loving and desperate niece, _

_Dana Harris_

Rosalie read it again.

She went back to that first day when she read through Bella's research. How that one little piece of paper seemed so incongruous next to the other documentation; it never totally fit.

All at once, it hit her.

…

"Hey man, are you doing all right?" Jasper was worried about Edward; he'd seen him become worked up before, but it had never seemed painful.

They were in another empty room; Edward had a hand pressed heavily into the wall. He was listening, but not to Jasper.

"They can't hear me, so don't bother asking." The voice was male and oddly familiar, but it carried that same toneless shape that one's own thoughts had. It was in Edward's head, but not. He couldn't be sure if it was real or if he was suffering some kind of mental breakdown.

"What do you want?" Somewhere behind him, he heard one of his friends asking a question.

"Tell me about Bella."

"Stay away from her." He all but growled the words.

"I'm not going to make her do anything she doesn't already want to."

"I said -,"

"No need to get angry. I'm just here to warn you, Bella isn't well."

Edward lunged forward toward empty space, "what did you do to her?" He could hear Emmett and Jasper, but it was like trying to listen under water.

"I haven't done anything. What I mean is…she isn't _well."_

Edward felt a brush of coldness near his temple and automatically put his hand to his head.

"She's going to do something bad." The voice was calm, almost cheerful.

"Not possible."

"She's going to kill you."

…

"Open it."

The voice startled Bella again and she jumped, curling in on herself. "Please…," she started desperately, "just go away."

"Open the drawer."

She looked at the sideboard against the wall, the only other furniture in the room besides the two loveseats. Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, she let the curiosity overcome her.

Bella was fairly skeptical by nature. It wasn't the idea of the supernatural that drew her into the job she had now, it was the history. She loved learning about the kind of lives people led and what might have happened to them. She loved that thrill that came with delving into a mystery, laying all the pieces out and then putting them together in a way that made sense.

So, unable to resist, she opened the little drawer.

It slid out smoothly and inside, resting at the back, was a gun.

…

Rosalie held the letter in her hand tightly along with the response from the man Dana Harris called Uncle Jack, who as it turned out, was a city councilman.

Her group had been lied to.

She strode over to the door. She didn't know exactly what any of this meant, but they had been brought there for a reason.

Rosalie grabbed the knob, turned. It stuck. She turned it the other way, nothing. She pushed, pulled, shoved her weight into it. And still, it wouldn't budge.

She was locked in.

…

Alice grabbed Bella's file, flipping through it rapidly.

His hair, she kept thinking.

On the laptop, California was trying to talk to her. She heard him, but didn't listen. If she had, she would have learned that something was wrong with some of their footage from the day before. The editors could see the camera turn on inside Roslyn House, it faced an empty loveseat. They heard Alice say something to someone and then pass in front of the lens. And then nothing but static, it lasted thirty minutes until the camera was shut off completely.

But Alice wasn't listening to any of that. Because she'd found what she was looking for, a photograph of Roslyn and Terrence Boyd from 1917.

"His hair," she said again, talking to no one in particular. "In my vision, his hair was blonde."

Terrence Boyd's hair was jet black.

…

Rosalie slammed the side of her fist into the door again, following it with her the tip of her left shoe. She hadn't told anyone, especially not the group, that she was claustrophobic. She'd even been to a doctor about it as a kid.

It was because of the King's house, the one she was dared to spend the night in when she was twelve. Rosalie remembered the voice, that threatening deep pitch, telling her to be afraid. She'd hid in the hall closet until her mother came to get her hours later. She never told anyone but her therapist about the things that voice said while she hid in that tiny black space.

But her doctor told her it wasn't real and Rosalie spent her life up to that point disproving the paranormal, blaming the unexplained on lies and overactive imaginations.

But her claustrophobia was real.

She banged both hands into the door, trying to keep her head clear. She thought about windows looking out onto wide open spaces, stretching her arms and legs out on by the pool on a sunny day.

She thought about how the room she was in had no windows.

"Hello?" She called out. "Emmett? _Anybody?_"

She counted her breaths; she counted too many in too short a time period.

Her heart squeezed in her chest. The room was shrinking; the boxes were multiplying. They towered over her, ready to fall, crush her, bury her under their heavy weight.

Rosalie yelled out as loud as she could, trying to hold onto what was real. "_The Cullens __lied__!"_ Her breathing came out stilted and shallow. "The Cullens lied! They don't own the house, the city does! _Does anybody __hear__ me?"_

She was met only with the sounds of her body on the verge of a full blown panic attack.

…

Bella wasn't sure how much time had passed. She wasn't sure how the gun ended up in her hands.

But she was sure of one thing. That voice. That relentless voice belonged to Esme Cullen.

"Where are you? Show yourself," she demanded.

"_I'm everywhere_," Esme's voice whispered in her ear.

Bella whipped around, pointing the gun toward the sound. She had grown up around guns and though she was never comfortable with one, she knew how to use them.

She kept talking, trying to draw Esme out into the open. She hoped the gun would scare her. "What do you want?"

"It's not what I want, it's what we want," she corrected. "_We_ want you and Edward."

Her panic stuck in her throat, "Edward? Wh-why him?" She turned blindly in another direction.

"You're going to replace us here."

…

Edward, Emmett, and Jasper stormed through the endless hallways. The camera hung limply, but still filming, from Emmett's hand.

Jasper called out, "Alice?"

They went through a doorway into the living room; they'd been there before.

"Wait," Jasper paused, trying to make out the shapes around him. "Through here."

Their feet pounded across the floor to another door; they shoved it open and were met with another hall. Jasper led them straight across to a closed door. He opened it.

"Oh, thank God, Alice."

…

Alice was still there in body, but her mind was in a very different place. She was like an unwilling spectator, watching two people's last night.

Esme's hands were shaking, but she was close enough to Carlisle that when she fired, she wouldn't miss.

Her voice was ragged and worn from crying. "You're lying," she accused.

"Esme, you don't - you don't know what you're saying," he sounded tired and aggravated by his wife's ravings. This wasn't the first time they'd had this argument, but it was the first time she'd brought a gun.

"I know exactly what I'm saying," she stepped closer. "She _saw_ you, Carlisle."

That set him off. "She's not _real!_" He shouted from his seat on the bed.

"You can't say that! I know you hear them too, I _know_ it."

"You're not well, Esme," he started to stand. "Darling, give me the gun."

"Stop it," her hands shook, but she kept it pointed at him.

He reached out.

She pulled the trigger.

It echoed off the walls, the sound too big for their little bedroom.

She felt Roslyn's cool breath near her ear. "That's a good girl."

Esme didn't turn; she knew she wouldn't see her if she did anyway. She looked at her husband, the person she loved more than anyone. "_Oh_," she breathed. "What have I done?"

…

"Alice," Jasper said again. She was crying, but her eyes were glazed; he recognized the look. He wrapped his arms around her. She was so small, sometimes he forgot that. "Alice," he whispered. He waited and then felt her shudder, collapsing into his chest. She was mumbling something so he leaned back just enough to hear.

"She killed him, Jasper. I saw it," her face crumpled in pain as she relived the memory.

"Who? Roslyn Boyd?"

"No, Esme Cullen, she killed Carlisle, she," her voice broke, "she shot him and then…,"

He pulled away a little more. "Alice, you're not making any sense."

"It's not the Boyds, it's the Cullens, they're the ones -,"

"Where's Bella?" Edward looked around as if she would appear if he said her name.

And then there was confusion and questions asked into the air from raised voices.

"Is Rosalie still upstairs?" Emmett sounded incredulous. "I'm going to get her," he dropped his camera on the vacant chair before charging toward the staircase.

"What do you mean…the Cullens are dead? But -,"

"Where the hell is Bella?" Edward yelled.

Alice looked at him, "I thought she was with y -,"

Before she could finish, a gunshot rang out.

Their heads snapped toward the sound. Edward ran out of the room with Jasper and Alice right behind him.

"Bella, call out!" He yelled, approaching a door, fairly certain that through it was where the sound originated from. He pushed it open, hoping it was the right one.

…

Emmett heard the shot, but kept moving up the stairs.

He was scared, though if you were to ask him later, he'd deny it. And he was oddly proud that Rosalie had stayed in the master bedroom all that time; he didn't have that kind of patience or self control.

"Rosalie?" He reached the landing. The door was open; he pushed it and stepped inside. The room was empty. He checked the places a little kid might hide, under the bed, in the closet; he even pulled back the rumpled bedspread which he knew was stupid, but he did it anyway.

Where was she?

He stepped back through the doorway, straining to listen for any movement. He looked left and realized he'd forgotten his flashlight. "Rosalie?" He heard something and took off toward another door still calling her name. When he reached it, he found it locked. "Rosalie, are you in there?"

There was a noise, something shuffling. "Emmett?" She sounded close to tears.

It was wrong; he didn't want her to ever cry.

"Rose, honey, open the door."

When she spoke again, her voice was shaky. "I can't," she turned the knob back and forth for emphasis. "Emmett…_please_, get me out of here."

Emmett tried it again from his side, pushing hard enough to make the wood groan. He rubbed a hand over his face, deciding. "Rose, move away from the door alright?"

"Ok," she replied, her voice slightly more distant.

He counted off in his head, trying to ignore how much he knew this was going to hurt.

…

Bella was pointing the gun at Edward. She didn't mean to, but she didn't feel entirely in control of herself anymore either.

He stood still, palms up. Jasper was behind him with Alice at the very back. "Bella -," Edward started.

"She's _here_! She wants you too," her hands shook; she was crying. "I thought I could kill her, but…,"

Edward tried to keep his voice soothing. "Who's here, Bella?"

"Esme, she wants me." Her voice sounded raw, as if she'd been screaming. "They want to leave, Edward…they just want to go."

He took another step closer, but stilled when the sudden movement startled her. "Then why don't they just leave?"

"They can't, they, they replaced the Boyds and now…," now they needed two people to replace them.

Edward was reminded of something Esme said during their interview, that they never sold the house because there was something sad and romantic about the Boyds. Now he was wondering if she was really talking about herself. He looked at Bella; she looked like she was listening to someone.

"I won't," she shook her head, the gun already lowering. Her voice was strained past breaking. "You can't make me do it for you," she said to someone only she could hear.

"Bella," Edward was closer now, close enough to touch her.

"_Please...take__ it_," she looked down at the gun like she couldn't let go of her own free will.

He reached out with both hands and touched hers, slowing slipping the gun from her grip. It seemed to release something inside and she let out a shuddering sob as Edward cradled her to him. He murmured to her that it was alright. He ran a hand through her hair and rocked her back and forth, trying to show her that she was safe.

Edward wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, but all too soon he heard a familiar set of footsteps pounding down the stairs.

"Let's get the hell out of here, yes?" Emmett called out, fumbling in the dark for the front door.

They all ran together out of the house, stumbling all over each other, everything else forgotten for the moment.

Outside, they all froze.

It was morning.

…

Jack Harris liked to sleep in on Sundays.

So the fact that he was up at seven and in his car already had him in a foul mood. He didn't always hate Halloween, but ever since his niece donated Roslyn House to the city, he felt it was his duty to keep the prank loving idiots away from it.

And they loved Halloween.

He got the call from Mrs. Crowley at a quarter to seven. She was walking her cat Buster, yes her cat, and heard what could have been a gun being fired inside the house. She ran back home, which was no easy feat at her age, and called Jack.

"There was a van parked out front and I swear I heard a gun go off."

He mumbled into the phone, "Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," she snapped.

"Then why didn't you call the police?"

"I thought you should know first; it's your house after all."

"Mrs. Crowley, it's not my house, it belongs…alright fine," he sighed. "I'll go take a look."

Jack parked behind the van. Whoever these people were, they had one foot in the grave already.

…

The group looked around. It was light outside; the fog had broken and the barest hint of sunlight was piercing through the cloud cover.

"But, inside…it was still dark…," Rosalie started. She held Emmett's hand more tightly; they hadn't let go of each other since he'd broken down the door to get her.

Before anyone else could speak, a car pulled up. It was beige, a little boring. The driver got out, his expression angry. "Who the hell are you people?"

Rosalie's lips curved up softly, her composure momentarily regained. "I've got this." She stepped forward while Emmett stood sentinel behind her. "Hello sir, my name is Rosalie Hale. What's yours?" She cooed at him.

His mouth opened once, closed, opened again. "Jack…Harris. You know," he shifted his weight from left to right. "You and your friends are trespassing."

Rosalie pouted, "You're not going to punish us, are you Mr. Harris?" Behind her, someone snorted. She watched as Jack Harris' anger melted away.

"Oh, no dear…but I do have to tell you that you and your friends need to leave."

"Yes, of course."

He was reluctant to them go. "What…what were you doing in there anyway?"

"Um…," she cleared her throat. "We were documenting our night in the house." She smiled, "we're on television."

He didn't say anything, so she decided to press her luck.

"Would you mind signing a release form so we can show the footage?" She didn't mention that the footage had already been shown, but getting his permission in writing would stave off possible legal action.

"Uh…," Emmett started. "I don't think -,"

"I'd be happy to, my dear."

They watched Jack leave a short while later, a smile on his lips. In the end, not only did he sign the release, he also arranged for people to come and break down their equipment. No one was very eager to walk back inside that house.

"See everyone," Emmett said as they neared the van, "our Rosalie does have a super power after all."

When they got settled in the back, she let him put his arm around her.

…

"I don't believe it." Alice said to her laptop screen. The group was congregated at the coffeehouse, relieved to be back in California.

"Believe it baby, best numbers we've ever seen on the network."

California had scrambled to throw together the footage once it was clear that no one was really filming anymore. The editors wanted to be furious, but the viewership had been huge.

"But we didn't even record the best stuff." None of the tapes showed the Cullens, or picked up any voices.

"Doesn't matter, you shot enough. So, listen, we want you to film some interviews of each other, fill in some gaps. We're going to call it Return to Roslyn House."

They all looked at each other, gauging the various reactions.

"It could be good," Bella said tentatively. Out of everyone, her experience had been arguably the worst. She said it was like a presence in her mind, not unlike what Edward felt, but this presence was actively trying to control what she did. She almost couldn't stop it.

Edward put his arm over her shoulders and pulled her closer. "Ok…let's do it."

…

**One Week Later**

"What I _will_ say is that I experienced something I cannot explain with logic or any other sort of rationale. It was jarring and frightening enough that it's made me rethink some things about the way I see the world."

"And would you ever go back to Roslyn House?"

"Hell no."

Alice smiled at that. "Ok, I think that about wraps it up then." She turned the camera off and Bella relaxed. Of the group, she was the least comfortable with being filmed. "So what's the next project?"

Bella stood, stretched her back. "Not sure yet, we're getting a ton of requests." She glanced around the little set they used for filming; it was meant to look like a Victorian era living room.

"I think we should look at the one in Maine, or the one in Colorado, that place Stephen King stayed."

Bella nodded, "the hotel, that could be good." Bella promised to call her when she did a little more research.

"Oh, I think Edward is waiting for you outside," Alice winked at her playfully.

Bella tried to keep a casual pace as she walked out, but probably failed. She pushed open the outer doors, squinting at the bright sunlight.

"Hey," Edward was leaning against the wall, looking every bit a James Dean body double. "How'd it go?" His face creased with worry at Bella's having to relive her night in Washington.

She shrugged, "it wasn't bad. I think we're going to Colorado next," she grinned at him.

He stared in surprise, measuring the truth of her statement.

"What?"

He shook his head, "how do you do that? How are you so…ok with everything?"

She raised and dropped her shoulders, "I'm just good with weird, I guess. Want to get some lunch?" She started walking.

Edward smiled and put his arm around her waist. He'd asked her out for an official date, which was taking place that night, but knew he wouldn't be able to wait all day to see her. That was why he'd shown up outside the studio when he did. He smoothed his fingers over a soft bit of skin under the hem of Bella's t-shirt and felt her sigh and lean her head on his shoulder. He grinned at her.

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you," she raised her head, but kept walking with him down the street. "Jack Harris billed Emmett for the door he broke down." She chuckled, remembering Emmett's face when he found out.

Edward laughed, "I bet he was pissed."

"Yeah," she paused, thinking about it. "It was kind of romantic though, without the bill part."

"He's got it pretty bad."

"Yep."

"I guess we all do."

Bella smiled toward the sidewalk and snuggled further into Edward's side. "Yeah, I guess we do."

…

Esme was at the window again, watching the sun dip down below the trees. She loved a good sunset. Carlisle came up behind her, slipped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on top of her head. "There will be others."

"We're back on the map now, at least." She leaned back, enjoying the feel of him around her.

"Very true."

"And everybody loves a good scary story."

Carlisle pressed a kiss into her hair.

"Next time."

"Yes," Carlisle agreed. "Next time."

end

* * *

Author's Note: After a little debate, I've decided there will be another installment of this story due out next October. It'll go out as a new chapter in this story so if you'd like to read it, put me on alert.

Also, thank you for reading! :)


	2. Hotel California

Author's Note: Here's the second installment, if you haven't read the first one you might want to, there are spoilers from it in this story.

What you need to know: The gang has a show where they investigate supposedly haunted locales. Alice has visions of the past and seems to also be something of an intuitive, while Edward's abilities as a medium appear to be growing, or he's just losing his mind. This one shot takes place three weeks after Roslyn House. Enjoy :)

* * *

Hotel California

"_Welcome to the hotel California  
Such a lovely place"  
_

The sound of his cries echoed across the tiled lobby. He slammed his hands against the front doors over and over, but nobody came. The noise only bounced off the walls, reminding him that there was no one else there, no one human anyway. Still, he screamed.

"Let me out, let me out _now_."

Despite his domineering tone, he fell to his knees, his fists still pounding. He demanded, and when that didn't work, he threatened and cursed and finally, he begged. "I don't like this anymore."

"_Please_," he hit his fist against the door half heartedly, one last time. "Please let me go."

In the shadows, someone laughed.

…

In the nearly three weeks that had passed since Edward first asked Bella out, not much had changed except that now they held hands. Granted, their schedules got in the way, but still, three weeks without a single kiss was driving Bella to distraction. She thought about his mouth a lot and how he had nice lips and lots of other things that she'd never noticed during the period where her affection was just a crush.

When he asked her on an official date, Bella was floored. Actually, she thought he was kidding, or talking to a woman behind her. When that proved to be untrue, she thought he was asking because of what happened to them in Washington. Having a near death experience can really change a person's outlook on life. She thought perhaps he felt bad that she'd nearly been possessed by…something. But that wasn't true either. He just liked her.

So she said yes and they went out and it was perfect. Except the part at the end when he only kissed her on the cheek.

After that, schedules got in the way, and they'd only been out alone on one other date since then. She was trying to find the right words to describe her frustration to Alice when the rest of the group joined them at the little coffee place/meeting spot.

"Where's Emmett?" Bella asked, her nerves going up a notch. This get together was his idea. He called them all early that morning, only saying that he had the perfect place to shoot the next episode. They all jumped at it, needing to get one more episode ready for the tail end of sweeps week. However, since it was Emmett's baby, he'd done all the preliminary research, leaving Bella with nothing to do but show up. She was hoping he would hand off the more in depth investigation to her once the group voted on everything, as the historical researcher for the show it was kind of her thing.

"He's measuring out quarters for the meter," Edward answered, sitting next to Bella. She could feel the length of his thigh against hers, definitely distracting. "He might be a while." Emmett liked to get the quarters to time ratio exactly right.

"Hmm," was all Bella said in response, thinking instead about how his arm had stretched out over the back of the couch as he was talking. She leaned a little closer and when she looked up, Alice was grinning at her from her spot on Jasper's lap.

Rosalie came back from the pick-up counter with some kind of iced fruit tea drink that looked really sweet.

"I think I need one of those, Bella?" Alice asked, getting up.

Bella knew what to expect if she got up, so instead she said, "No thanks, I'm fine." It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to her friend about the lack on goings on between herself and Edward; she just didn't want to do it while he was in the same room.

Alice scrunched her nose at her and went to order.

Actually, Bella was quite thirsty. There was a heat wave passing through southern California at the moment and it was stifling. Add to it the Santa Ana winds and it was almost impossible to be outside. The weather man was predicting shorts and tank tops as de rigueur for Thanksgiving dinner.

Emmett came in just as Alice was sitting back down, his arms full of computer print-outs and handwritten notes. He dumped it all unceremoniously on the table in front of them. "Here it is," he said proudly.

"Here what is?" Jasper asked, taking a sip from Alice's cup. He made a face from the sweetness.

"Our next show, okay it's a mess, but all the research is here." He searched through a stack of papers until he found one single sheet. It had a large picture on the front. He passed it to Rosalie first.

"The Hotel St. James?" She asked.

"Where have I heard that name?" Alice asked, taking the picture next.

"Someone was killed there last month…I don't know about this." Edward leaned forward, his elbows on his knees.

"He died of a heart attack, nothing to worry about."

"Maybe he was scared to death," Alice teased.

Edward rolled his eyes.

"This is exactly what we need for sweeps. The place is still news and besides, it's a resort…was a resort."

Alice, Jasper, and Rosalie nodded their agreement while Bella looked carefully at Edward's expression. "I'm in," she said after a moment.

He turned toward her in surprise and she shrugged.

"It'll be good for the show."

He touched her knee and her nerve endings crackled to life. "Are you sure?"

If she let herself debate it further, she knew she'd end up backing out, so she said yes impulsively before she could change her mind.

He sighed. "All right, I'm in."

…

_Somewhere in the distance, thunder crashed in the dark sky, momentarily muffling the begging, terrified voice inside the little apartment. The rain tapped incessantly against the window panes as if trying to get inside. When it couldn't, it slipped down the glass in rivulets, a quiet witness. Lightning flashed as the storm moved closer._

_ The young woman looked broken and exhausted, but her anger trumped the growing panic in her voice. She shouted, "Go ahead and admit it!" Her voice grew louder as she realized that no matter what she said this would end badly. "You hate –"_

"Who let Alice pick the reading material again?" Emmett turned in the driver's seat to ask.

Alice sat up straighter. "Don't pretend like I didn't catch you sneaking a look at the next chapter this morning. You want to know what happens to Gordon and Madge as much as I do."

Emmett flushed slightly and refocused on his driving. "Okay, but…speak up a little."

Alice grinned and cleared her throat. She clutched her heart dramatically and resumed reading. She did all the different voices, pleased with her companions' rapt attention.

_Later that night, Madge was crying softly in her room, waiting for the phone to ring. They said they'd call if they found Gordon's battered body when they dragged the river. She waited and waited. Wouldn't that phone ever ring?_

"Hey, we're here," Emmett called out after a while.

The group looked around, unsure of what they might find. They'd been so enthralled with Alice's book, no one thought to watch where they were going. Well, except Emmett, of course.

Bella made a hmm noise. "Palm Springs is uh…nice."

"Technically, we're just outside Palm Springs in um…,"

"The middle of nowhere," Rosalie finished.

The desert stretched far and wide around them, bisected only by the stretch of road they were driving. In the distance, a small green oasis marked their destination. As they got closer, Bella saw the green came from the palm trees at the gates of the Hotel St. James. Past that, she saw that more palms dotted the property. In the flat heat of the morning, nothing moved.

The hotel itself sprawled in front of them, three floors high and very wide. The Spanish tile roof glinted red against the cream walls, the only other color besides the brown earth. From what Bella had read about it, it boasted an indoor and outdoor pool, a garden courtyard, a luxury spa, and every other amenity one could desire.

"Wow," Alice said.

Emmett grinned. "Do I know how to pick 'em, or what."

Bella had read that until a few weeks prior, the Hotel St. James was a fully functioning resort. It had a certain reputation for wild parties and rich decadence, but no reported paranormal activity. The only incident came from the late John Andrews, who was staying there alone on business. After his death, it was claimed that he was acting strangely during his stay, keeping odd hours without reason, losing his temper, and generally frightening some of the staff.

After his death, the hotel decided to close its doors temporarily due to the bad publicity and loss of half their reservations. Bella and the rest of the group were being allowed to film there as part of the owner's desire to revamp their image. He wanted to attract the curious and thrill-seeking to make up for losing most of the rich.

Emmett drove slowly through the wide gates and past a large central fountain. When it was turned on, it would release water from the top that trickled down three tiers to the waiting pool at the bottom. At the moment, however, it was drained.

The driveway curved under a huge stone awning where a man and a woman were both standing. They parked there to unload their equipment.

"Welcome," the woman said as Jasper slid the van door open. She smiled; her teeth looked bright against her tan skin. Her golden hair was pinned up off her neck, no doubt because of the heat, though by looking at her, she didn't seem to be affected by the temperature at all.

The group said their hellos, sounding relieved to be out of the van. They took a moment to stretch and shake hands, introducing themselves to Christopher and Tanya St. James. When Rosalie stepped forward to greet them, Alice stifled a gasp.

Rosalie glanced at her from the corner of her eye while Alice gestured subtly to Tanya. That's when the others took notice as well. Bella's mouth parted slightly.

"What?" Rosalie asked, her hand still half outstretched to shake Tanya's.

Alice smiled in apology. "I'm sorry," she said to the St. James'. "It's just…you two could be twins."

It was true; the women shared the same hair color, the same high cheekbones and full lips, even their height was similar. The only difference seemed to be that Tanya had green eyes where Rosalie's were an almost violet blue.

Tanya smiled demurely and looked Rosalie up and down appreciatively. "Well, I'll take that as the highest of compliments."

Rosalie grinned back, though it was not entirely comfortable. "Likewise."

Mr. St. James used that moment to step in saying, "it seems to me that Haunted America is full of lovely ladies. Again, welcome to our humble abode."

They offered to help carry some of the equipment, but Jasper and Emmett didn't trust it in anyone's hands but their own. Together, they managed to get the sound and camera gear out of the van while Bella and Edward helped with most of the rest. Alice held a large duffel bag over her shoulder and a small camera in her hands. "Do you mind if I film this? We use it to orient viewers a little, they like seeing the place in the daylight first."

Mr. St. James told her to go right ahead and then proceeded to lead them through the grand foyer where several staff members milled about. Tanya explained that most of them would be leaving for the duration of the group's stay.

Alice pointed the camera at her friends. "Say hi, everyone."

They gave nods in her general direction, their arms too laden with bags to wave.

Bella's attention was soon captured by the far wall of the hotel. It was two stories high and made entirely of glass. Through it, Bella saw a courtyard, shaded from the blazing sun by the two additional legs of the hotel, the shape of the entire building forming a vague C. It looked like an oasis within the oasis. Large palms and other green plants made it a modern Garden of Eden. Another fountain sat at the center, it drained as well. As she watched, a sprinkler system came to life, spraying the plants and trees from above. Thin rivulets of water streaked down the glass, muddling her view.

Mr. St. James caught her staring and smiled. "Like it?"

Bella said that she did.

"We'll have dinner for all of you set out there then. It's too bad you can't see it with the fountain running, maybe another time." He smiled again before continuing on to the elevator.

"You six will have the run of the place while you're here, but we thought you might enjoy the larger suites on the third floor. There are several of them, but each has two bedrooms if you'd like to share."

Edward and Alice shared a knowing glance. He thought back to the first season of their show and the place Alice had dubbed the Bates Motel. There were stains on the sheets and hair on the pillowcases, but best of all was the tiny hole in the far wall. Alice was convinced the night manager was watching them.

They squeezed together first in and then out of the elevator. Bella had to lean back against Edward to avoid being hit by some of Jasper's sound equipment. She stayed there an extra beat after the doors opened.

The hallway they came upon was wide with room doors spaced far apart. Mrs. St. James stopped at the first one before sliding her key card through the slot. "And here we are," she gestured to the entryway with a flourish.

The room was spacious and modern without looking uncomfortable. It was colored primarily in black and white with deep orange accents. As she moved through, Bella saw that there was a living room in front of her and a fully stocked bar on her left.

"I'll take this one," Emmett announced, dropping a duffel bag to stake his claim.

The St. James' led them on a tour of the rest of the suite. The bedrooms were down a hallway on the right. Bella noted that one of them was nearly as large as her apartment back in Los Angeles.

"You can stay in this room with me, Rosie." Emmett grinned

She rolled her eyes. However, it did not go unnoticed that he was the only one allowed to call her Rosie. No one knew what those two were doing. They danced around each other and Rosalie spoke like she wasn't interested, but her actions said otherwise.

"Only if I get the master," Rosalie answered. It was considerably larger than the other bedroom.

"Deal."

Mr. St. James laughed under his breath, but chose not to comment on the obvious sexual tension. Instead, he passed around key cards to the three rooms they'd decided to occupy. Alice asked if they could interview him and Mrs. St. James in the lobby by the glass wall and he agreed that it would look good on film.

…

In Edward and Bella's room, there was some awkward shuffling going on.

"Um, you can take the master," Edward said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Oh," was Bella's only response, her hope that he would want to share quickly deflating. She flushed slightly, thinking it silly that she thought he would make that suggestion. Typically, a couple was supposed to kiss at least once before they slept together. She declined his offer to help her with her bags, lugging them to the room herself instead.

There was an en suite bathroom, so she took a few minutes to clean herself up. She changed into a flimsy green cotton dress and flat sandals. When she turned around, the mirror displayed a great expanse of her back. It wasn't entirely appropriate for filming, but it was 105 degrees and she was trying to prove a point with Edward.

He saw her step out from the hallway and his mouth dropped. Surely, he thought, this was not a dress, but some kind of torture device. Quickly, he changed his features to show a more suitable amount of awe. He stood as she moved closer and reached for her waist, pulling her into his body. She put her arms around his neck, her heart beating furiously with expectation.

"You look beautiful."

"So do you," she smiled, embarrassed. "I mean, handsome…," she felt a light huff of laughter from his chest.

"Bella…," he let the end of his statement trail away.

She looked up at him, her question fading from her lips when she saw the expression on his face. He was going to kiss her. She leaned in a little as if to give him the permission he seemed to be asking for. He tilted his head down slowly and she could feel his breath, warm and vaguely minty. She practically vibrated with anticipation. _Please_ was her only conscious thought.

And then she felt it. The lightest, barest touch of his lips on hers.

"Are you guys ready?" The muffled call from the hallway was followed by Emmett's perpetually loud knock.

Edward growled a little under his breath. "Just a second," he yelled back. "Sorry," he said to Bella, who was still breathing hard.

…

Their voices echoed in the spacious lobby, without any other guests the noise seemed ever louder than it might normally.

Jasper whistled in appreciation of the big space, now getting the chance to really see it. It followed a similar color pattern as the upstairs suites, neutrals splashed with burnt orange and other warm, desert colors. There were clusters of chairs and couches surrounded by palms and white bird of paradise. They found Mr. and Mrs. St. James sitting near the window as planned. They'd both changed into slightly more casual attire and Tanya had let her hair down. They looked like vacationers rather than the owners.

Alice stepped to the front of the group, as their de facto leader, she always did the interviewing. It helped that she had a way with people. "Mr. and Mrs. St. James, hi," she said brightly.

"Oh, Christopher and Tanya, please. Is right here okay?"

"Sure, we just need to check the light and get our equipment set up so it'll take a few minutes." She made small talk with the couple, getting them comfortable. After a while, they were being filmed and they barely noticed.

They told the story of how they met, what made them buy the hotel, and finally, what happened to the late John Andrews.

"He was pretty normal as far as guests go at first," Tanya said. "After the first night though, one of our girls at the front desk said he made some noise complaints; he said he couldn't sleep because of the racket."

"What kind of noise? Did he ever say?" Alice tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

"Well, not really…but…," she paused, looking at her husband. "It's kind of off season for us right now and the rooms on either side of Mr. Andrews were vacant."

Alice nodded slowly, not saying anything.

"I thought it might be some of the staff, you know…using the room, but they said they weren't and I believe them. I trust all the staff implicitly," she added. "But I had to check everything.

"I talked to Mr. Andrews and he was adamant that something was going on so we offered to change his room. We moved him to one of the third floor suites, not any of the ones you're staying in," she said quickly. "It didn't get any better after that, he started making claims that someone was in his room, but he refused to go into any detail. He said he just knew for a fact that someone was there. He was so angry; he scared some of our people."

Alice spoke gently. "Was that a possibility?"

"Absolutely not," Christopher said.

Alice looked to Tanya. "No, like I said, I trust our staff."

"Okay, take us through that last day."

Tanya steeled herself. "Well, he was scheduled to stay a week and after the first three days we stopped seeing him entirely. There was a do not disturb sign on the door so housekeeping stayed away and he'd taken his phone off the hook. The day he…the fifth day, I went up there myself and…," Christopher took her hand and she smiled uncomfortably toward her lap.

"He didn't answer," she finished.

"But he did come out at some point."

Tanya nodded. "It was really late…I had gone to bed…," she took a deep breath.

"Take your time," Alice comforted.

"We only had Travis working here in the lobby over night and then two security guards, but they only monitor the video feeds from their office."

"You have video of Mr. Andrews from that night?" Alice caught Emmett's eye and he shrugged, refocusing the camera.

"Of course, I can give you the tape if you want it. The police didn't need it."

Alice thanked her and then got them back to the story.

"Travis had gone on a break and that's when Mr. Andrews came down. He -," her voice caught and Christopher squeezed her hand.

"I think that's enough for now. You can watch the tape for the rest, okay?" His tone said that he was telling them, rather than asking.

"That'll be fine." Alice paused, mulling over the decision to ask them any more questions. "Tanya, you have a lot of interaction with the guests, it seems like."

"That's right," she blinked back tears, relieved to be on to another topic. "I handle most of the public relations type things, I like working with people. Christopher runs the business side of things."

They wrapped up the interview and then Tanya excused herself. Christopher introduced the group to the staff and security they would need to interview the following day before leaving to find his wife.

…

"I don't like them." Rosalie said, folding her legs underneath her. She leaned back in the chair, grateful for the nice accommodations. Emmett sat on the couch, the end closest to her.

"And why is that?"

"They're too…," she waved a hand, searching for the right word. "I don't know…perfect."

"They aren't the Cullen's," he said softly.

They both remembered that night only a few weeks prior, when they'd all been trapped in that house, held there by…something. No one was ready to admit yet that Carlisle and Esme weren't what they seemed.

"I know that, I just mean…I get a bad vibe from them."

Emmett shrugged. "They seemed all right to me."

"No, I get what you mean. I don't know what it is though," Jasper said. The others came to sit with them. No matter how much space they had, inevitably they stayed close together. Alice sat on the floor between Jasper's legs while Edward and Bella took the opposite couch. "I want to see the tape again."

"I just uploaded it to California; we'll get feedback from them pretty soon." They always called their editors "California" even when they were in the same state. They were the ones that made all the footage look like an actual television show.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Emmett asked.

Bella spoke up. Technically, she was the historian, but she also used her organizational tendencies to keep everyone on track. "We can probably talk to California after dinner, and then we'll need to grab the security tape and review that."

Everyone perked up, eager to know what was on that tape. Christopher said the camera was set up with a straight shot at the front doors, where Mr. Andrews' body was found.

"You can shoot some exteriors in the morning and I've set up interview times with Travis and the security guards on duty that night, we'll set up all the equipment and then it's lights out."

"Excellent," Emmett enthused.

They could feel the energy in the air like static; it was time to go to work. But first…,

"Let's eat."

…

The dinner spread was incredible. Long tables with orange runners had been set up in the courtyard and then covered with food, everything a person might want. Between the three of them, Emmett, Edward, and Jasper had at least one of everything. The wine and conversation flowed freely and eventually, the bartender began serving drinks with liquor.

They all knew they were working and, if only because of this, they did not imbibe heavily. But still, something started happening after the sun went down.

"Come and join us," Emmett called to the bartender and other wait staff milling about now that they'd finally finished eating.

The bartender, Riley, exchanged a glance with the girl bussing the buffet table. She grinned with apparent mischief and put her things down, gesturing for him to follow her to the table. The two other staff people joined quickly after.

"So," Alice began. "Do you think this place is haunted?" Her favorite handheld camera appeared from her rather large purse. She flipped it open and hit record.

"I think this place is evil," Riley said with sincerity.

The girl next to him rolled her eyes. "You're just saying that because Mr. St. James denied your raise request."

He took a drink from his beer bottle. "Jess, you know something's wrong with this place."

She stared at him, communicating something that the others didn't understand.

"Let's just say that things happen here that you guys don't know about."

"Riley," Jess snapped.

He shrugged.

"Okay, enough with the macabre stuff, who wants music?" She asked. She wouldn't have suggested it, but the St. James' were sleeping off site that night and nearly everyone in the hotel was sitting around that table anyway.

Jess turned on the sound system, the speakers of which were hidden around the courtyard. She switched it to a song with a sexy, pulsing beat. "Dance?" She looked at Riley with a smile and he tried to play off his grin as mere bemusement. She led him to an open space near the big fountain. In the near darkness, he pulled her hips closer.

Alice set the camera down, though it was still rolling, and looked at Jasper. She whispered something in his ear and he stood, taking her with him. They made their way to the impromptu dance floor, Alice kicking her shoes off on the way. He turned her around so her back was pressed to his chest, his hands brushing the skin between her top and her skirt.

"Come on, woman." Emmett stood and winked at Rosalie, who got up and pulled off her outer shirt, leaving her in only a thin camisole. Emmett followed after her like a starving man.

The two others on staff looked at each other before jumping up to join them, leaving Bella and Edward watching.

She wanted him to ask her to dance; she wanted it with ever fiber in her body. But Edward, she'd come to find out, was a shy man.

He looked at her, his lips parting as if to say something.

"Bella -,"

"Edward -,"

They both started at the same time. He motioned for her to go first.

She felt like she was in high school again, sitting by the punch bowl while her friends went out and had fun. "Um, do you want to, you know…dance?"

"Definitely." He stood, offering his hand as the song changed. This one was harder, grinding, and made Bella's skin tingle. She felt it then, like a shift or loosening of something. She slipped out of her shoes and led the way, feeling Edward's eyes on her bare back the whole time.

When they got to their friends, he turned her to face him. He slid his arms around her and they began to move in time with the music.

The heat surrounded them and soaked into the stone their feet danced on. Their skin became slick and their movement languid and potent with suggestion. Bella pulled her hair up off her neck and felt Edward's lips there, hovering. He was behind her now, his thumbs brushing the fabric covered skin of her stomach. She tilted her head just slightly and then felt him kiss her. He followed it with his tongue, tasting her for just a second.

When the temperature became too much for them to stand, someone lost a shirt. They couldn't say who was first, but soon enough it was all the men.

Rosalie ran her hands up Emmett's chest, her mouth parted and her breathing heavy. She moved her hips into his, back and forth to the beat of the song, her hands traveling further up his body. She stretched up and took his earlobe between her teeth. Emmett groaned.

Jasper's fingers played just under the waistband of Alice's skirt, teasing her. She raised her arm, tangling her hand in his hair. She tilted her head back and he kissed her.

Edward had material from Bella's dress clutched in his fist. He wanted to tear it off her. He kissed her instead, his tongue moving languidly against hers. He felt the movement of her body and the vibration of the music and it was too much, too good. When Bella looked at him, his eyes were black.

No one noticed the watcher on the other side of the glass. In the darkness, the only things visible were steely eyes and a satisfied smile.

…

Something incessant was beeping near Alice's head. She lifted her arm, flailing it uselessly in the noise's direction. Absently, she wondered where she was and how she came to be there. She hit something solid with her hand and heard a grunt of displeasure. It didn't feel like Jasper to her.

Her eyes opened and she saw the ceiling, but it was too high, as if she was on the floor instead of a bed. She touched whatever it was she was laying on, the floor, apparently. The wood was cold under her fingers. She became aware of the soreness of her body and the quickening of her heart. What happened last night?

She heard another groan from the person next to her and she glanced over, coming face to face with Emmett, their noses only an inch apart. They sat straight up in surprise.

He looked at her in obvious bewilderment. His mouth opened. "…what…what the hell?"

Alice only shook her head, sharing in his confusion.

They both looked around, hoping they were at least in their hotel room. They spied Rosalie's long, bare legs hanging off the end of the couch and exhaled in slight relief.

Emmett stood up, his joints stiff and cracking. He reached a hand down and Alice took it, cringing at the soreness in her body. She grabbed her phone, which was the source of the beeping, and checked it. Three missed calls. She frowned, but set the phone aside anyway for the time being.

Together, they searched for their friends.

They found them in the master bedroom, together, on the bed. Bella rested halfway down Edward's body, her head on his bare stomach. Jasper slept stretched out nearly diagonally across the rest of the space. Alice and Emmett stared at them and then at each other, questions passing silently between them. Again, what happened last night?

Jasper stretched and opened his eyes and they watched as he mirrored their earlier reaction to waking up on the floor in the entryway. "Uh…," he said, hastily getting up and out of bed.

"Jas," Alice whispered.

He looked at her, his eyes wide.

Bella stirred, jarred by the noise and movement. She rubbed her face into what should have been her pillow, had she been using one. She propped herself on her elbows and looked down. Her mouth opened and then closed. When she looked up, Edward's eyes were opening. They stared at each other. Emmett cleared his throat, making Bella jump.

"Oh…um…yeah…," she got up quickly, Edward followed. She straightened her twisted dress while Edward looked for a shirt.

From the living room, Rosalie called, "where the hell are my pants?"

"I don't know, but we're in here," Alice called back.

Rosalie walked in, holding a large pillow over her midsection. "So um…what's going on?"

They all looked at each other. "We have no idea," Alice said.

"Does anyone remember anything?" Edward asked.

Jasper shook his head. "Nothing, man."

Alice rubbed her eyes in frustration. "All right, let's all go to our own rooms and get ready. We're pretty useless right now and we have a lot to do today."

They all agreed and retreated from Alice and Jasper's room to their own quarters.

Each of them showered and dressed in silence, lost to the miasma of their thoughts.

…

They were greeted and led back to the courtyard by Mr. and Mrs. St. James for breakfast, which they practically salivated at. They exchanged pleasantries before being left to their own devices.

"Look," Jasper noted after they filled their plates. "It's like nothing happened out here at all."

It was true; the courtyard was as pristine as ever, the greenery still damp from a recent watering. It was shady and cool, very much the oasis it seemed to always be.

"Okay, has anyone remembered anything? My mind is a blank right now." Alice looked around the long table, hoping someone would have something they could share.

Bella thought hard, trying to push the heavy curtains back that cloaked the whole night. She sighed in irritation. "Um…I remember dinner…sort of."

"So do I," Rosalie chimed in. "Wait…music, I remember music."

"Heat," Edward added. "I remember that."

They all went back and forth for a while, each person only remembering bits and pieces of the night before. But they still couldn't seem to weave anything together.

"Wait!"

Every face turned to Alice.

"The camera, I had the camera going. I saw it in our room; thank God…I'll be right back."

She returned a few minutes later in high spirits, the camera on in her hands. "I had to change the battery; we must have had it going all night." She sat and they all crowded around her, anxious to see the small screen.

Alice started it when Riley's face appeared; she vaguely remembered doing the short interview with him and a woman whose name she couldn't quite place.

They watched the woman, Jess – Bella called out when she remembered, suggest music and then pull Riley onto the dance floor.

Couple by couple, they all got up to dance. The camera jerked and then went still as Alice set it on the table to dance with Jasper; she kept it facing their makeshift dance space. It was fun and innocent at first, they smiled and laughed and flirted. As the night wore on, however, it changed. They pressed closer, hands shifted clothing to move across bare skin and boundaries were crossed like they didn't exist.

Bella failed to stifle a gasp when she watched Edward kiss her for the first time. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw him frown. They both frantically retraced everything, trying to remember that moment. Her eyes watered with unshed tears. "Can we fast forward through this part?"

Alice did, not hitting play again until she saw herself approaching the screen. She was grinning lazily as the camera moved unsteadily in her hands.

"I look like I'm high." She commented.

It was true, her eyes were dilated wide and she was completely incoherent. It didn't look like drunkenness, it looked like something else.

The camera swept around, capturing her friends in various states of undress. After a few seconds, Alice's face filled the screen again. She lifted half her mouth in a smile. "Bye, now." The screen went blank.

Everyone sat back in their seats. "Well…that was…Bacchanalian." Jasper frowned, staring at his hands.

"Can I see that?" Rosalie asked. Alice handed it over and watched while Rosalie pressed a couple of buttons and then watched a part of the feed.

"See, there, right there at the end," she turned the camera around and started it over. It was a part near the end when the whole group came in to view one last time. Bella was sitting on one of the tables, Edward standing between her legs. Jess was sitting in Riley's lap on the fountain's edge and the other two staff people were kissing nearby. Jasper was moving toward Alice, his eyes heavy lidded.

"What?" Edward asked.

"Where am I in that shot? And where's Emmett?"

They watched it again and sure enough, Rosalie and Emmett were missing.

"You could have been off camera," Jasper offered.

"But the shot got practically the whole courtyard…," Rosalie bit her lip, frustrated at her imperfect memory. Certainly she would know if she'd slept with someone, she thought. She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling strangely vulnerable.

Emmett reached over to touch her hand, but she pulled away. "I'm all right," she said.

Alice ran a hand through her damp hair; her head still ached from sleeping on the floor. "Okay, what do you guys want to do? I have no good ideas…," she felt Jasper's arm come around her shoulders. She leaned into him.

"Chalk it up to the alcohol?" Emmett asked.

Edward shook his head. "No, you can see it on the tape, I don't think we drank that much."

"But, it doesn't show the whole dinner. Maybe we drank more than we thought?" Bella looked around the table at their weary faces.

"I vote that," Rosalie said. "I think we should move on, we've got a lot to do today. I'm guessing nothing productive got done after dinner."

They put it to a vote and agreed something good needed to come out of that trip.

Bella and Rosalie offered to pick up and review the security footage since that interview wasn't until later in the day. Alice, Emmett, and Jasper left to interview Travis, the man working the night Mr. Andrews died. And Edward very reluctantly took the handheld camera upstairs to upload the tape to California.

…

Rosalie let Bella do most of the talking. She was trying not to let it get to her, but she was quickly discovering it was too late for that.

She trusted Emmett, though she wouldn't ever verbalize it, and she knew he would never do something to hurt her. But after watching the tape and seeing the state they were in, she couldn't help but wonder if he'd pursued her or perhaps she had pursued him. She was also starting to believe that they may have been slipped something by someone else. It killed her not to know anything for sure.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bella asked on their way back upstairs.

Rosalie shrugged. "Fine, just…you know." It was as close to opening up as she was going to get, but she appreciated the concern.

As the newest member of the team, she'd had a difficult time adjusting. She was the resident skeptic and while the others searched for proof too, they were more likely than her to believe. It made her feel, at times, like the odd man out. But they did their best to welcome her and she found herself becoming more personally attached every day. Especially to Emmett, though she kept that to herself.

When they made it to Alice and Jasper's room, they found Edward sitting on the couch. He told them the other three were still doing interviews and then he said, "You've got to come see this."

…

It took a long time for Alice to coax Travis into talking, but she could tell he had something to say. And underneath his stock answers, she saw something else – fear.

He told them the basic story, that he was on shift that night, and that he took his break and didn't see anyone coming or going. When he got back, the security guards had just arrived. Unfortunately, it was all too late for Mr. Andrews. Once the paramedics arrived, he was pronounced at the scene.

Travis wrung his hands together and then folded them in his lap when he noticed what he was doing. "It was…I've never seen a dead body before."

Alice watched him sympathetically, but didn't say anything.

"If I hadn't taken my break then…or if I'd gotten back a little earlier, you know?"

"It wasn't your fault, Travis. There was nothing you could have done."

She wrapped up the interview after a few minutes and a couple other questions to round things out.

"That's it?" He asked after she thanked him.

Alice shot a look at Emmett, trying to communicate to him not to turn off the camera. "Is there something you wanted to add?"

Travis opened his mouth and then hesitated. "Uh, no, I was just wondering."

"Are you sure?" She prodded. She knew there was something there, but she didn't know what.

He shook his head. "There's nothing else."

…

"Do you get the feeling that everyone is in on some big secret except us?" Jasper asked on their way to interview the security guards.

"Definitely, I haven't felt this out of the loop since high school." Emmett responded.

They set up for the guards, Robert and Hal, and then got them situated. They were both nervous, but apparently eager to be on camera. The two men took turns taking Alice through that night, saying they didn't notice him until he started pounding on the entryway doors.

"It was the strangest thing; we don't lock them until two in the morning so there was no reason for him not to walk right outside if he wanted."

Robert nodded. "But he just kept hitting them, as hard as he could, it seemed like. You can see he's saying something, but we don't get any audio on these feeds. He looked…terrified."

They said they watched him on the monitor for about thirty seconds, trying to figure out what he was doing. When it was clear Mr. Andrews was in a full blown panic, they ran to his aid. Unfortunately, it was too late.

"You're sure the doors were unlocked?"

"Positive," Hal answered. "I checked them myself after I called for paramedics."

Alice nodded, contemplating her next question. "What do you think about this hotel?"

Hal opened his mouth, but was cut off by Robert. "It's a good place…and I like my job." He gave Hal a pointed look.

Alice was beginning to feel a wall against her back.

…

"California caught this, watch…," Edward backed up the tape a little. He paused it near the end, the part where Alice picks up the camera at the end of the night. "Okay." He hit play.

The picture was on a laptop now, and thus, much larger. It showed Alice's face and her disoriented expression before it swept around to show the rest of the group. "There," Edward said suddenly. "Did you see it?"

Rosalie and Bella shared a confused glance. "See what?" Rosalie asked.

Edward backed the tape up again and played it, frame by frame instead. "Okay…right about…there," he pointed to a dark smudge on the screen and then hit pause. It was just as Alice began to pan the camera, a shadow in the upper left corner.

"Um, okay?" Rosalie couldn't make heads or tails of what it might be.

"What is it?" Bella asked.

"Well, California wondered that too, so they cleared it up and sent me this." He clicked something on the screen and a new window opened. It was a sharper, zoomed in shot. It wasn't a shadow at all. It was legs.

Bella's mind immediately went to all the possibilities. "Is that you, Rosalie? Looks too small to be Emmett."

"No, I wasn't wearing pants like that. Can we tell if it's a woman or not?"

"The camera never shows a face, but there's this too," Edward opened another window.

Pressed up against the glass, just before the camera turns away completely, was a hand.

…

They were setting up in a way that would seem chaotic to the casual observer, but they had everything under control.

"I need a couple more hands," Rosalie called from the open front doors of the hotel.

"I gotcha," Jasper said, jogging over to help her set up the generator. They would power off all the electricity in the hotel once they started filming.

Bella stepped out of the elevator. "Okay, one EVP recorder and a motion sensor in Mr. Andrews' suite."

"Got another EVP?" Emmett asked. Bella tossed him one.

"Thermal imaging is set up in here." Edward said.

"What are we doing about the courtyard?" Alice called out from her spot at one of the clusters of chairs. She was hooking up a connection to California.

They'd set up their base camp in the large lobby since it was a central location and easy to find. No one mentioned it, but they all remembered roaming the hallways blindly at Roslyn House.

"We're going to walk through it, but do you think we need something stationary?" Bella asked.

"I can get the tripod out there," Emmett offered. "Maybe a thermal too." He grabbed the equipment to position it outside.

"Generator's ready," Rosalie said, tucking back a loose strand of hair.

"I need batteries," Jasper was looking through a pile of things on the big table where Alice was talking to California. They were going to monitor the feeds simultaneously to give them direction toward the most active areas of the hotel. Alice had dual monitors set up and a laptop, that way she could see the playback and California at the same time.

Jasper held two double A's up in triumph, "Ha!"

Alice grinned and shook her head.

…

They met with the St. James' for a short while after everything was ready, just long enough to explain exactly what they would be doing. They promised they were only there to observe and record and that nothing would be altered for the sake of ratings.

The last people to leave were Robert and Hal. They showed Jasper where he could turn off the power; it was in a small room across from security. Before they left, Hal wished them well.

The six of them had one last meeting to make sure everyone had their assignments. Edward, Bella, Jasper, and Emmett would stick together and move throughout the most active places in the hotel. Edward would use his strange gift and try to communicate with whoever might be around.

He was reluctant to call himself a medium, but he never could adequately explain his ability. He believed in the beginning that he could only hear what had passed through someone's head before they died. But after their last show, he discovered that it was much more than that. Edward could hear them, talk to them. If he was honest with himself, it scared the hell out of him.

Like the last time, Rosalie volunteered to spend the night in Mr. Andrews' room. Emmett didn't like the idea, but Rosalie insisted she wasn't afraid. He believed she was trying to prove a point. She'd been grateful, but had never much liked that he had to come to her rescue at the last taping.

…

"Okay, we're ready to roll." Alice sat in front of her bank of monitors, the rest of the group crowded in behind her. She handed Jasper a flashlight and gave him a quick kiss.

"All right," she said. "Good show, everybody."

Emmett lifted a heavy camera onto his shoulder while Jasper left to power down the big hotel.

Bella stilled her rattling nerves and Edward squeezed her hand. It was the first time he'd touched her since viewing the tape from the night prior. She gave him a small smile and he smiled back.

Rosalie held her flashlight close. She was chronically claustrophobic and she hated the way the darkness always seemed to press in on her. She counted slowly, matching her breaths to it.

It was too far to call out, but Jasper did anyway. "Lights out."

The hotel went black.

…

Rosalie's light shone toward the stairs in front of her. Emmett followed, his camera rolling.

"If you need to come downstairs, Alice will be in the lobby all night," he said.

"I'm not scared."

"I know, I just mean, we're not live this time so you don't really need to spend the next ten hours up here."

She sighed, softening at his protective instincts. "I'll be okay."

They got to Mr. Andrews' room and she pushed the door open. Because there was no power, Bella had pushed one of the locks over to keep the door from closing all the way. She did the same to all the rooms they planned to venture into, as well as their own, just in case.

Emmett checked the video and the sound before saying goodbye for the night. Impulsively, he grabbed her hand, tangling his fingers with her for just a moment. He gave her a small nod and then left, making his way back downstairs.

…

"You got him to sign off, right? Because we're using it." California was referring to the piece of video in which Riley called the hotel evil; it was too good to pass up.

"Yep, everyone has." Alice tapped a few things into the keyboard, bringing up the thermal feeds on one large screen. They had cameras that detected even the faintest heat signature placed in the courtyard and the lobby. So far, everything was quiet.

"You guys have some great stuff so far, this is gonna kill."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Ha ha."

"Alice."

"Hmm?" She answered, distracted.

"What?" California asked.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything."

…

As soon as the door slammed shut, Rosalie was hyper aware that no one could open the door unless she let them in. The knowledge gave her minimal comfort. She remembered the last show, which was her very first show, and how talking to the stationary camera helped to ease her nerves.

"So, I thought, at first, that this was just a marketing tool. You know, get us out here to garner some publicity, but now…," she wasn't sure how to word her thoughts.

"Something is happening here. Everyone is playing their part just a little too well."

She was about to say something else, but a noise through the wall startled her into silence. There were voices, or maybe just one, she couldn't tell. Rosalie moved toward it slowly in the nearly pitch black room, straining her ears for the sounds. She touched her hand to the wall and heard laughter – high, clear, and distinctly feminine.

She leaned closer, but didn't hear anything more. After a minute, she pressed her ear to the wall.

…

The sprinklers had gone off just after dusk; apparently they were on a timer that was wired separately from the hotel. Even though they'd turned off by the time the group got outside, everything was wet and it lowered the courtyard's temperature by several degrees.

"I can't even see Alice," Jasper commented. Between the darkness and the way the water muddled the glass, they couldn't see inside at all.

Bella shivered from the dampness and Edward stepped closer. She looked up at him and was going to smile until she noticed his expression. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he tried to hide his grimace, but was unsuccessful.

"Edward -,"

"It's okay." He took her hand.

Bella looked at him one more time, studying his face. The last time he was like this was also the first time he ever heard _them_ speak to him.

_They walked through while Edward lagged behind._

_"What's the matter?" Bella stood in the doorway, blocking the shot._

_"My head…it's just a headache, but the pressure. It's like…," he lowered his voice, "it's like something is inside my head."_

Edward had confessed to her later that he felt like he was losing his mind.

…

Alice left her post to search out the voice. She took a handheld camera, a flashlight, and a Bluetooth to keep her connected to California.

"It came from this direction…I think." She walked across the lobby and down a wide hallway nearly all the way across the hotel. When she saw another, narrower hallway to her left, she took it. She pointed the flashlight at the name plates on the door.

"Maintenance…Housekeeping...," she continued on, listening for the voice.

She came to an open door. Common sense told her it was a bad idea, but curiosity won out and she pushed it the rest of the way, shining her light back and forth.

There was a bank of screens on a long desk, two chairs, filing cabinets, computers, and a small refrigerator. It was just as it should be. She stepped closer, staring at the blank screens. One of them wasn't right.

Alice passed her hand over it and saw the shadow of her reflection. But there was another shadow there, one that didn't belong. She looked at the screen and then turned around, looking at what it should have been reflecting – a large, grey filing cabinet and nothing more. She looked at the screen again, her heart beating staccato in her chest.

…

"_Are you afraid?_"

Edward's gaze snapped toward the voice. It was happening again.

"No," he muttered quietly.

He felt someone's hot breath in his ear, sour as rancid milk. "_You will be_."

…

Rosalie closed her eyes in concentration, her ear to the wall. There was nothing.

She held her breath.

Silence.

She waited.

"_Rosalie_."

She screamed.

…

"Did you hear that?" Emmett asked.

"Hear what?" Jasper asked back.

"Nothing, I guess."

There wasn't anything happening in the courtyard so they moved back inside. Bella led the way back into the lobby.

Jasper looked around. "Where's Alice?"

…

Alice was there, but only in body. She felt anchored, unable to move. Her pupils dilated wide and she began to see.

She watched Mr. Andrews, alive and well. He was terrified.

The vision faded and a new one took its place. She spoke out loud, knowing she would have trouble remembering this afterward.

"He's running down the hallway, when he looks back he trips and falls. There's a woman…she's following him.

"I can't…,"

Something flickered in her mind and then the vision faded entirely.

"That can't be right."

…

Someone was pounding on the door. Rosalie held her flashlight like a weapon as she crept closer. "Who's there?" She asked with suspicion.

"It's Riley, open the door," he called back.

She threw the lock so the door would only open a few inches. "What are you doing here?"

He stood back from the door, trying not to frighten her. "I need to talk to you."

Rosalie quirked an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Well, you as in, all of you. Please?"

She weighed his question in her mind, trying to figure out what he was getting at. "Why are you here now?"

"Because you guys have no idea what you're getting yourselves into."

…

Bella was sitting in Alice's seat, talking to California while Edward gave a short interview with Emmett and Jasper.

"You guys never remember to take the walkie talkies," he admonished. "Alice is on her way back there right now."

Just as Edward's interview wrapped up, they heard the faint squeak of Alice's shoes on the marble floor.

The light bounced a little as she jogged over.

Jasper met her halfway. "Are you all right? What were you doing?"

"I'm fine. Family meeting," she called out to everyone else. "I saw something."

…

"She's what?" Rosalie asked incredulously.

"She can make you do things…I don't know how to explain it." Riley paced in the hallway because Rosalie wouldn't let him into the room. She knew there was a camera set up to face the door, so if he tried anything it would be on film.

"Do things?" Rosalie crossed her arms over her chest.

"You guys blacked out last night too, right? Well, that's not the first time it's happened to me." He stopped pacing and started picking at his fingernails. "It starts out like last night, you remember dancing? Well, it gets worse. It's not the hotel that's evil, it's her." Riley finally stopped fidgeting and looked at her. "You've got to believe me."

Rosalie rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Not again." She unlocked the door and pulled it open all the way. "Come on, let's go."

…

The group gathered at the big desk, using the light from the computer monitors to see each other.

"Okay," Alice cast a quick glance at Edward and Bella. "It's Tanya causing this...and maybe Christopher. Actually, I think he's protecting her."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Emmett muttered.

"But something isn't right." Alice rubbed her forehead, fighting off the inevitable headache that came with her strange ability.

Jasper touched the small of her back. "What'd you see?"

She took a breath. "Mr. Andrews was running from her and then I saw him at the front doors. He was begging to be let out. Tanya was…laughing," she frowned. "I saw…I saw him die. But, the part I don't understand is…after that, Tanya just -,"

"Oh my God."

All eyes went to Bella, who was pointing toward the front doors.

…

Riley led the way down the stairs, going so fast Rosalie was worried he'd fall. "He was paying us off so we wouldn't say anything."

"But why not put her…somewhere, you know?" Rosalie huffed, feeling out of shape as they went down the second flight of stairs. "An institution?"

"Like it could hold her. I don't know, either he really loves her or…or she won't let him."

…

"Tanya," Alice said, unable to hide the tremble in her voice. The desk served as a small barrier, but Jasper still stepped forward, putting himself in front of her. She stepped out part way. "We know."

Tanya tilted her head and stepped forward. Her eyes weren't right; as she got closer Bella saw that both her pupils were blown.

Alice took a wild stab in the dark, praying that her hunch was correct. "It wasn't you, Tanya. Something is making you do this." Alice kept talking, trying to keep her distracted. She hoped if she could, the guys could restrain her somehow. "I know you're in there somewhere, Tanya."

She stared back at Alice, rage and desire heating her from the inside out. She reached out, running the tips of her fingers along the desk, the only thing separating them. She licked her lips.

Suddenly, there was a beam of light to her left and the sound of pounding footsteps.

…

Rosalie stopped short in the cold lobby. "Tanya."

She was too close.

Rosalie didn't stand a chance.

Tanya lunged for her.

…

"Rose!" Emmett dropped the big camera with a resounding clatter and took a step toward her.

Edward grabbed his arm. "No, Em."

Tanya had Rosalie in front of her, one hand had produced a knife, the other was wrapped tightly around Rosalie's neck.

Alice put her hands up. "We're not going to try anything. Just, please, let Rosalie go. We'll do anything you want."

She grinned. "I want you, _all_ of you." Her grip tightened. "You can't leave, you can never leave."

Instinctively, Edward put Bella behind him. Alice shook her head at him, silently telling him not to move.

"That isn't you talking. I saw you, Tanya, after Mr. Andrews died. You had no idea, did you?"

In her vision, Alice saw her in the lobby, just out of the camera's view. She was toying with him right until the moment he died. And then it was like a switch was flipped and Tanya was herself again. She'd looked around, lost until her eyes found Mr. Andrews' body slumped at the doors. She'd covered her mouth with both hands in horror, but before she could do anything, the guards rushed in and she was forced to flee.

"Whatever it is, you have to fight it, Tanya. It's not stronger than you. _Fight_ it."

Tanya's mouth twitched and something passed over her eyes, but she said nothing.

Under her hand, Rosalie could feel the bruises forming around her neck. She held Tanya's forearm in vain, trying to stop the automatic flood of panic. But she was trapped and she could barely breathe. After years of working to overcome her intense claustrophobia, one hand around her neck snapped her progress in two.

Alice kept talking. There was a fight happening and a shift coming; she didn't know how she knew, but she did.

The glass wall started trembling, but no one noticed. Instead, they were staring at Tanya's agonized face. She'd switched back, only for a second. But it was long enough.

Emmett barreled straight up and over the desk and went for Tanya. He grabbed her wrist, squeezing and forcing her to drop the knife. He got between her and Rosalie before he was joined by his friends. Tanya shrieked and fought him viciously, clawing, biting; she tried to get away with everything she had.

Bella and Alice went for Rosalie, who had fallen to her knees, coughing and gasping hard. They helped her up and half dragged her a safe distance away.

It took all three men to get Tanya to the floor. She was screaming, trying to twist out their grasp, but they held fast.

The glass wall was rattling louder now, loud enough that Bella finally took notice. Her eyes went immediately to the long crack splintering its way across one of the panes a few feet from her friends.

"The wall," she yelled quickly. "It's going to -,"

It shattered, drowning out her warning. There was so much glass; it fell like rain on top of them. They covered their heads, but it was no use, there was too much.

After what felt like an eternity, the last pieces shimmered and fell, settling over every surface in the lobby.

The group opened their eyes slowly and looked at the mess in shock.

"Is everyone okay?" Edward asked, looking for Bella.

They all called out in turn.

Edward went to Bella's side, but she wasn't paying any attention. He wanted to touch her, but he knew he'd only cut her if he tried. "Bella?"

"Tanya," she said, staring at the place on the floor she should have been. She was gone.

…

_One Week Later_

The heat wave had finally broken. Rain fell in fat drops as Bella jogged to the studio entrance, using a newspaper as an umbrella.

She took off her soaked jacket when she got inside and then followed the different hallways, straight back and then to the left where she found Alice in the recording studio, doing the tail end of a voice over for the Hotel St. James episode. She waved to her from the other side of the glass and then sat with the rest of the group on the couch. Edward tried to give up his seat for her, but she waved him off and sat on the floor between his legs.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He kissed the side of her head. "Hey," he said.

She settled back a little, getting closer to him. "Hi."

When Alice was finished, she came out to join her friends, perching on Jasper's lap.

Mike, the producer, excused himself to grab some lunch.

With him gone, their conversation turned inevitably to the St. James' as it had every day for the last week.

"I think she had multiple personalities," Rosalie argued.

Edward shook his head. "Then how do you explain the wall shattering? Or the doors being locked the night Andrews died? Or our dinner, for that matter?" No one had regained any more memories from that first night; it bothered them all more than they were willing to admit. Neither Rosalie nor Emmett knew where they'd gone when they'd disappeared, but the general consensus was that wherever they were, they were probably together.

Rosalie sighed. "Well…I don't know, but I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation."

"I still think it was possession." Alice said. "I don't think she could control it. You guys didn't see her when she realized Andrews was dead, she had no idea what she'd done." Her vision from that night haunted Alice; the expression on Tanya's face was so tortured. It was like she knew it was all her fault, but there was nothing she could do about it. "I think that…_thing_ inside her craved that negative energy or…," she sighed, not knowing quite how to finish.

They went back and forth for a short while, but in the end, no one completely agreed with any theory. The only thing they knew for sure was that Tanya was gone. And so was Christopher. The police were looking for her because of the attack on Rosalie, but they had no evidence for any other crimes she may have committed.

As for the episode, the editors had stitched together some compelling footage of what was arguably a very human culprit. They were allowed to air what tape they had after agreeing to put one hell of a disclaimer at the end since none of their theories could be proven.

Unfortunately, depending on how one chose to look at it, they had no film from their confrontation with Tanya. Obviously, taping had become their last priority at that point.

"Do you think we'll ever see them again?" Bella asked.

Jasper shrugged. "I don't think so; she's on the run now."

…

Bella startled at the sound of someone knocking on her door, her book falling to the floor. She smiled to herself at the overreaction, but still approached with caution. She looked through the peephole and her smile widened.

"Edward," she said, opening the door.

His hands were in his jacket pockets and he looked nervous. "Bella," he said, sounding surprised that it was her though this was her apartment. "Hi…I just…I've been thinking…I -," he stuttered out another couple of words before cutting himself off.

He huffed slightly and licked his lips. Before Bella could process what he was doing, he stepped into the entryway and took her face in his hands. He leaned in, just slowly enough that she could pull away if she wanted. She didn't.

Edward touched his mouth to hers softly and she gripped the front of his shirt, pushing up on her toes. His lips parted and he touched her bottom one with his tongue experimentally. She responded with enthusiasm and he smiled against her, his hands slipping down to wrap around her waist. When they parted, Bella's eyes were bright.

He grinned at her. "I won't forget that one." He touched his nose to hers playfully and then pulled her closer.

"Edward?"

"Hmm?"

"Kiss me again."

…

The sign read: _Las Vegas 30 Miles_. It wasn't nearly far enough, but they could get lost there to rest for a little while. Christopher pulled the car off the highway at some little town that had a gas station as their prominent feature.

He touched Tanya's arm lovingly. "I'll be right back, sweetheart." He took her hand between his, kissing the scratched skin. It had taken days, but he'd managed to get all the glass out.

She stared out the window, her pupils wide despite the bright morning light.

Christopher paid for the gas and bought some water for the both of them. She would have to eat or at least drink something eventually.

When he got back inside the car, he twisted off the cap and held the bottle near her face. "Here honey, have a little water, okay?"

She tilted her head away from him and something caught her eye. Not something, but someone. "I want him."

He looked out her window and saw the young man pumping gas nearby. Christopher wouldn't fight her; he couldn't even if he wanted to. This…person wasn't his wife, maybe she never had been. But he loved her; he would always love her.

And so, as the man pulled out onto the highway, Christopher put his car into drive. The man had no idea he was being followed.

"Anything you want, my love."

end

* * *

Author's Note: Thanks to my pre-readers and thanks to you guys :)

More things to know: I based the plot of this story on my favorite song, you can probably guess the title. Also, I nicked portions of Alice's dramatic reading from an episode of I Love Lucy.

Oh and umm...it's my birthday today...


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